Photograph attached is from 2014.
Dame Joan Collins is set to turn 90 years old on Tuesday May 23, 2023 and as she enters her 10th decade the Hollywood starlet reveals that she has no plans for slowing down as she continues to age.
Ahead of her birthday Collins shared a touching instagram post that referenced her late sister, Jackie Collins. In the image, Joan Collins smiles for the camera while holding up the best-seller American Star which was written by Jackie Collins. Her sister was a prolific romance novel writer selling over 500 million copies over a span of 32 books.
Joan lost her sister in 2015 after Jackie succumbed to a six-year long hard fought battle against stage four breast cancer which also claimed the life of the girl’s mother back in the 1960s. Jackie kept her illness a secret from her sister, quoted as saying that, “I just felt like [Joan] didn’t need it in her life. She’s very positive and very social, but I’m not sure how strong she is, so I didn’t want to burden her with it.”
Jackie revealed her diagnosis to her sister two weeks before ultimately passing away.
The sisters’ relationship was reflected upon in an article by Vanity Fair where their sisterly bonds were characterized by ‘deep love’ but also ‘competition’ according to the article. Jackie Collins’s daughter Rory Lerman Green said in the article, “Sometimes the admiration tipped over into being quite competitive. We’d say their relationship has seasons. They’d always come back round. At the end of the day, they were very loyal to one another and almost like a power couple.”
However Jackie Collins quoted Frank Sinatra as she explained why she didn’t regret keeping her diagnosis a secret from her sister. “I did it my way,” she said, “as Frank Sinatra would say.” While Joan was upset about her sister’s death she said that she respected her sister’s choice to keep her diagnosis private.
In her instagram post honoring her sister, Joan included in the caption how her sister’s books were perfect for every plane ride, keeping her sister’s legacy strong even as the years keep going since her passing.
Sources;
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/coronation-party-line-up-announced-29842827
https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1660508/Joan-Collins-sister-Jackie-death-cancer-news-latest
