Forget style, I wear gloves to avoid the f lu reveals Joan
IN her soap opera days, shoulder pads were a wardrobe staple.
Now the handiest outfit item for Dame Joan Collins is... a pair of gloves. Although the veteran actress has been wearing them on the red carpet for more than six decades, they’re no longer a fashion statement – but a barrier to avoid getting the flu.
And the 84-year- old Dynasty star said she is so keen to avoid germs she avoids greeting anyone with a kiss on the cheek.
Her admission came after revealing how she was struck down with the virus on a plane to Dubai last December.
Writing in the Spectator magazine, the actress said she contracted the less serious ‘but still awful’ B- strain despite having the flu injection.
However, she soldiered on and managed to get through her one-woman show, An Evening with Dame Joan Collins, in the Gulf state. She wrote: ‘The show must go on, so I staggered on to the stage, the words of my ex about the roar of the greasepaint ringing in my ears, and managed to get through it, in spite of several coughing fits.
‘Back in London I took to my bed like a Victorian lady with a case of the swoons – legs shaky as spaghetti, ribs aching from a hacking cough. Bed-bound for a fortnight, I missed several amusing Christmas parties and almost felt that the end was near. (I’m an actress – you have to expect some drama.) Now I
‘A case of the swoons’
wear gloves whenever possible to protect myself against virulent germs – it may appear eccentric but just wait till I put on that surgical mask.
‘I avoid shaking hands, much less this ghastly fad of kissing and hugging strangers as if they’re pals.’ She added: ‘Dining at a popular restaurant, the maitre d’ was shaking hands with the patrons and when he came over to me, all Uriah Heep-like, proffering his appendage – his hand, I mean – I refused to shake it as I imagined it covered in germs. He was quite offended but my doctor told me that lightning can strike twice.’
The Golden Globe-winning actress said on a flight to London she even blocked the air vent above her with duct tape and swabbed the seat and media screen with disinfectant wipes.
In 2015, Dame Joan posted an image of herself online in black satin gloves and wrote: ‘Always a fashion statement.’