Molly Meldrum’s first girlfriend Sandy Breen and his famous friends tell all in new documentary

MOLLY Meldrum’s first serious female partner has spoken frankly about her relationship with the Aussie music guru in a revealing new documentary.

MOLLY Meldrum’s first serious girlfriend has opened up in a new documentary on the TV icon.

Molly: The Real Thing airs this Sunday night on Channel 7, a companion piece to the dramatised Molly miniseries that covers his entire life and career beyond the Countdown years.

Ex-flame Sandy Breen detailed the years she and Meldrum were romantically involved from the early ’60s onwards.

“We had a delightful relationship,” Breen said.

Meldrum asked Breen to marry her outside of Myer, although she politely declined and wed someone else.

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“If I had married Ian we’d have lasted one year if we were lucky and that would have been that,” Breen said.

“Instead I didn’t marry him and we’ve been best friends for over 50 years. By 1967 I had discovered other boys and I think Molly might have too!”

Best friends ... Sandy Breen and Molly Meldrum used to date in the 1960s.

The documentary also features music stars Delta Goodrem, Tina Arena and Dannii and Kylie Minogue talking about Meldrum’s support in their careers.

Kylie Minogue said Meldrum was there in the early days during the backlash around her instant success.

“He was such a strong support in the beginning for me,” Minogue admitted. “The beginning (of my career) was very successful but not a lot of critical acclaim. To have his support was fantastic. He took me under his wing.”

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Director Paige McGinley spent 26 months making the documentary, which includes interviews with Kiss, Hugh Jackman, Shane Warne, Suzi Quatro, Russell Morris, Paul Hogan, Billy Slater, Colleen Hewett, Paul Kelly, John Paul Young, James Reyne, Colin Hay, Michael Gudinski, Johnny Young, Red Symons, Ronnie Burns and more sharing their personal memories of Meldrum.

Trucking billionaire Lindsay Fox, who gave the TV star his trademark Stetson hat, reveals how Meldrum used to jump into bed with his elderly mother in law and even took her out clubbing one night.

Strange bedfellows ... Molly Meldrum became very close to Lindsay Fox and his family.

Red Symons and James Reyne hail Meldrum for being openly gay on Australian TV.

“Molly is not given enough credit for being the first out gay man in Australian media,” Symons said. Australian Crawl frontman Reyne added “the way he embraced it was completely open and proud. It’s brave now, but in the ‘70s? That was seriously brave.”

The program also explores Molly’s early days, including photographs with his mother Isobel and younger brothers Brian and Robert. The documentary has rare photos from Meldrum’s period working for Go Set magazine and performing on TV show Kommotion, his period working at the Beatles’ record label Apple as well his friends and family opening up about his near-death accident falling off a roof in December 2011.

McGinley presented Meldrum with a framed copy of the only photo in existence of him with his mother.

She said the love for Meldrum was “phenomenal” and that all the venues used to film interviews waived location fees because it was a project honouring Molly.

“I didn’t just want it to be a tribute documentary,” McGinley said. “It had to show that he is flawed because that’s who he is. That’s what makes him relatable. I wanted it to have big swinging balls and not just be a puff piece.”

To the point ... Dannii Minogue shares her anecdotes in Molly: The Real Thing

Originally published as Molly Meldrum’s first girlfriend Sandy Breen and his famous friends tell all in new documentary