As confirmed by People, best-selling novelist Jackie Collins has died after a private battle with breast cancer. She was 77.
Collins initially got her start in Hollywood as an actress, appearing in a handful of small roles while living with her older sister, actress Joan Collins. When her acting career failed to take off, though, Collins tried her hand at being a novelist and published her first book, The World Is Full Of Married Men, in 1968. The book’s sexual content got it banned in a number of countries, which—as is often the case—ended up making it even more of a hit than it might have been otherwise. In 1983, Collins published her ninth and most successful novel, Hollywood Wives, which Aaron Spelling turned into a successful miniseries in 1985. Hollywood Wives told the stories of multiple women living amongst the glitz and glamor of Hollywood—with all of the juicy scandals and sexy escapades that one would expect. Collins continued regularly releasing books for the next few decades, and her final novel—The Santangelos—was released this past June.
According to People, Collins was diagnosed with breast cancer “six-and-a-half years ago,” but she chose to keep it private from pretty much everyone but her three daughters. Collins spoke with People earlier this month, and said that she had “no regrets” about choosing to keep her cancer diagnosis private. Instead, she wanted to “[embrace] a very full life until her very last days,” continuing to write books, go on book tours, and travel the world.
Collins leaves behind her three daughters, six grandchildren, her sister Joan, and her younger brother Bill.