A Remarkable Life Journey
- Best-selling author Jackie Collins taught the world about sex. The glamorous feminist died in 2015 from stage 4 breast cancer at 77 years old.
- CNN Films is releasing a documentary commemorating the life of this powerful storyteller called Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story, directed by Laura Fairrie, out June 27.
- It is crucial to let your doctors know about your family history, and together, you can talk about genetic testing and when is best to start your annual screenings.
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Infiltrating the Hollywood scene with her sister provided much of the back story for her “fictional” novels, which were all based on real-life characters.
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Her first book, The World is Full of Married Men, was published in 1968, and created quite a stir. Collins went on to publish 31 more novels, and at the time of her death, the “larger than life” writer-turned-celebrity had sold over 500 million books worldwide.
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Here are four things you didn’t know about Jackie Collins from the new documentary.
1. The feminist had an abusive father.
It’s no wonder that Collins was so determined to empower women, as she grew up in an abusive household with her “philandering” father treating her mother poorly.
“My father was a screamer. If it could be said, he would yell it,” a voiceover reads from Collins’ private journal. “Once I watched him throw a plate of food at my mother. ‘This is my house, you will obey my rules. You’re old enough and ugly enough. I am king.'”
The camera cuts to Joan Collins who comments, “that’s the truth.”
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2. Jackie’s first husband killed himself after threatening to do so if she left him.
Jackie married the “dynamic” and “exciting” Wallace Austin at 18, who had bipolar disorder. He was much older, and an abusive drug addict who threatened to commit suicide if she left him. (The couple had a daughter Tracy, now 60.) Finally, Jackie got away four years later, leaving in the middle of the night, yet Austin did indeed tragically take his life shortly after by overdosing on barbiturates.
“I mean, I knew he would do it. I knew two years before he would do it,” Jackie said in footage from an old interview. “And you can’t live your life with somebody saying to you, ‘I’m going to kill myself if you leave me,’ or ‘I’m going to kill myself if you do this or that.’ Eventually, you’re going to have to go off and live your life. You can’t feel guilty about it. I’ve never felt guilty about it, cause I knew he was going to do it and nothing was going to stop him. I couldn’t have stopped him, nobody could have stopped him.”
So she “created a world for herself of wonderful characters who couldn’t let her down,” according to the film.
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Collins found love again with husband Oscar Lerman, who sadly died in 1992 from prostate cancer.
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They had two children, Tiffany, now 54, and daughter Rory, 52, who is a breast cancer survivor.
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3. Joan and Jackie were told by their father to keep their mother’s breast cancer a secret.
Joan and Jackie’s mother, Elsa, was a “warm, nurturing angel,” according to Joan in the film, and Jackie worshipped her mother. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer, the girls were instructed by their father to stay quiet about it. “You are not to mention that she has cancer, we don’t use that word. She’s got a virus, she has a bad flu … it was really terrifying how strongly he felt about it.”
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Elsa died in 1962. “Cancer was a word in the 1960s you just didn’t say,” Joan said in an earlier interview with Piers Morgan.
4. Jackie ignored the lump in her breast until it was too late.
In 2007, Jackie felt a lump in her breast and said, "I'm not dealing with this, because in my mind I decided it was benign," she said in an interview with People just five days before her death on Sept. 19 at 77.
Despite her mother dying of breast cancer, Collins unfortunately followed in the same secretive path and wasn’t proactive about addressing it. She finally agreed to go to the doctor after she was having trouble walking; The cancer had already spread to her bones.
Related: When Breast Cancer Spreads to the Bones
“Tiffany, you’re going to be so mad at me,” her daughter recalled of her mother finally letting her in on her secret. “I’ve got a lump … in my breast.” She had had it for at least two years.
Collins intended to live life until the end and thankfully eventually started advocating for women to get checked. It blew everyone away that this embodiment of a strong woman could allow this to happen to herself. She said she was very sorry, but initially asked her family not to tell anyone, which was like her father all over again.
Related: 6 Common Excuses for Skipping a Mammogram That You Need to Stop Using
"I know we're all told to do it, but some of us are too stupid, and I was one of them," Jackie admitted. "That was my choice and maybe it was a foolish one, but it was my choice. Now I want to tell people it shouldn't be their choice …"
Her final request was to go back to London one last time. She hung on as long as she could, dining at the Ritz, and saying goodbye. She even filmed one last interview, clad in a red blazer, dangling earrings, and full hair and make-up. Glamorous and promoting her work until the end.
Sister Joan cried every day for three months after she passed. “She had an incredible life.” Indeed.
Screening for Breast Cancer
When caught early, most breast cancers can be treated effectively, with high survival rates. Experts say that women should start getting mammograms at 40 or 45, and some argue 35, especially if there is a family history like Collins had.
It is crucial to let your doctors know about your family history, and together, you can talk about genetic testing. Testing for the BRCA 1/BRCA2 gene mutation is now much more easily accessible and affordable, with more insurance carriers covering the test with women who have a history of breast and/or ovarian cancer.
Dr. Connie Lehman, professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the breast imaging clinic at Mass General Hospital in Boston, tells SurvivorNet that if you haven’t gone through menopause yet, it’s important to have a mammogram every year.
“We know that cancers grow more rapidly in our younger patients, and having that annual mammogram can be lifesaving,” she says. “After menopause, it may be perfectly acceptable to reduce that frequency to every two years. But what I’m most concerned about is the women who haven’t been in for a mammogram for two, three, or four years, those women that have never had a mammogram.”
Related: Jennifer Garner Shares Footage Of Her Mammogram Screening For Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Dr. Lehman stresses that all doctors agree that regular screening mammography saves lives.
“Every doctor that I know, every organization that I know really encourages women to have a mammogram. I want to be completely clear. Please get a mammogram.”
When Should I Get a Mammogram?
What Are the Options if You Have a High Risk of Developing Breast Cancer?
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