The cancer secret she kept for six years

Jackie Collins 1937- 2015

JACKIE COLLINS, the Hollywood novelist who died at the weekend, kept the news that she had advanced cancer secret from her sister Joan for more than six years, she disclosed in her last interview.

The British writer kept details of her illness private from all except her daughters. Her older sister only found out in the past fortnight.

Joan Collins last night led tributes to her “beautiful, brave, baby sister” and praised the way she had faced terminal breast cancer.

She said: “I admire how she handled this. She was a wonderful, brave and a beautiful person and I love her.”

Collins, 77, died in Los Angeles, six and a half years after being diagnosed with stage four cancer.

In what would prove to be her final interview, five days earlier, she said: “I

did it my way, as Frank Sinatra would say. I’ve written five books since the diagnosis, I’ve lived my life, I’ve travelled all over the world, I have not turned down book tours and no one has ever known until now, when I feel as though I should come out with it.”

Stars on both sides of the Atlantic paid tribute to the Beverly Hills novelist, whose raunchy tales of Hollywood lust, power, money and misbehaviour saw her redefine the “bonkbuster” genre.

Her 30-odd novels, including The World Is Full of Married Men; The Stud;

The Bitch and Hollywood Wives, proved wildly successful and sold 500 million copies. Many were made into films or television series.

Jilly Cooper said her friend’s decision to keep her illness secret was “a mark of her splendour”.

She said: “She was absolutely marvellous, she was lovely. She was a very, very good writer.

“She lived in Hollywood, she knew what she was writing about and she just unashamedly wrote about the high life, and people loved it.

“Everybody is so dingy and politically correct now, and she didn’t care, Joan Collins, above left with her sister, right, says she admires the decision by Jackie, also pictured left earlier this month, for privacy she just wrote what she liked.” Sir Roger Moore described her death as “a great shock”. He said: “What a talented lady.”

Piers Morgan said: “So incredibly sad to hear Jackie Collins has died. Terrific writer, great friend, neighbour and a truly fabulous, funny, entertaining lady.” A statement by Collins’s family – she is survived by three daughters and six grandchildren – said: “It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one-of-a-kind mother, Jackie Collins, who died of breast cancer.

“She lived a wonderfully full life and was adored by her family, friends and the millions of readers who she has been entertaining for over four decades. She was a true inspiration, a trailblazer for women in fiction and a creative force. She will live on through her characters but we already miss her beyond words.”

In a recent interview, Collins said she was no fan of the more recent blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James. She said: “Good for her because she’s sold a lot of books and has got people reading again, but people say to me: ‘Your sex is much hotter’ and I say: ‘I know.’

“Sex should be fun and erotic. You don’t want to be dragging a suitcase around with handcuffs and a paddle – it’s ridiculous.”