Australian pop star Vanessa Amorosi has spoken publicly for the first time about the bitter court battle that shattered her relationship with her mother, Joyleen Robinson.

The 44-year-old singer-songwriter appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday night, telling Tracey Grimshaw the fallout had been "the elephant in the room" for years.

"Like people want to know about it, like 'Why would you do this to your family? Why would you do this to your mum?' Like, trust me, I don't want to do that- that's not a good time," Amorosi said.

She admitted she never thought her mother believed she would have "the guts or the courage to let this go public" but said she had no choice.

"I think at numerous points, I was very, very close to it. And it took a lot of buckling down to go, no, I'm not walking away. 'C

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