Jackie Collins, Best-Selling Romance Novelist, Dies At 77

Jackie Collins, the best-selling British American romance novelist, died Saturday, Sept. 19, following a long battle with breast cancer. She was 77.

Jackie Collins Dies

“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 today,” the Collins family told People magazine in a statement.

“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 4 decades,” the statement continued. “She was a true inspiration, a trail blazer for women in fiction and a creative force. She will live on through her characters but we already miss her beyond words.”

Collins, who kept her breast cancer diagnosis a secret from the public, was first told she had stage 4 breast cancer more than six years ago. Over the years, she fought the cancer with an assortment of treatments, including radiation and a lumpectomy in addition to a number of drug courses and combinations.

In her last interview, less than a week before her passing, Collins stated that she had no regrets about how she chose to live her full and productive life.

“Looking back, I’m not sorry about anything I did,” she told People. “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. Now I want to save other people’s lives.”

Collins is survived by her three daughters – Tracy, 54, Tiffany, 48, and Rory, 46 – who she hopes will always feel her presence.

“I’m so proud of them,” Collins said. “I want them to feel secure and I want them to feel whatever happens, I’ll always be there.”

Over the course of her prolific career that spanned over four decades, Collins published 32 novels, which all made The New York Times bestsellers list. Her books, which were translated into 40 languages, have sold more that 500 million copies.