Hollywood's Most Glamorous Woman Had Plenty Of Secrets
For decades, Joan Collins has been celebrated as one of Hollywood's most glamorous stars, but her real life has often been more outrageous than anything she portrayed on screen. Between five marriages, famous lovers, bitter betrayals, and extraordinary encounters with Hollywood royalty, Collins collected enough stories to fill a library. Eventually, she did exactly that, turning her tumultuous personal history into bestselling memoirs, scandalous novels, and revealing diaries.
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She Was Born Into Show Business
Born in London on May 23, 1933, Joan Collins grew up surrounded by entertainment industry personalities thanks to her father, theatrical agent Joseph Collins. His clients included major names such as Shirley Bassey and Roger Moore, giving Joan an early introduction to the world of celebrity. However, her ambitions went beyond simply knowing famous people, and she enrolled at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art while still a teenager.
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Hollywood Came Calling
Collins began her film career in Britain, where her striking appearance quickly attracted attention from producers looking for their next leading lady. In 1955, she appeared as the scheming Princess Nellifer in the historical epic Land of the Pharaohs, having already secured a contract with 20th Century Fox. The young British actress was establishing herself in Hollywood, where she would discover that fame came with extraordinary opportunities and equally extraordinary complications.
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She Became Hollywood's New Temptress
During the 1950s, Collins appeared in major productions including The Virgin Queen, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, and The Opposite Sex. Studios frequently cast her as seductive, calculating women, establishing the glamorous bad-girl image that would follow her throughout her career. Behind the scenes, however, the young actress was discovering that Hollywood's treatment of women could be considerably uglier than its glamorous publicity suggested.
Her First Marriage Was A Nightmare
Long before she became an international superstar, Collins entered a deeply troubled relationship with actor Maxwell Reed, whom she married in 1952. She later revealed that Reed assaulted her on their first date, describing herself as painfully inexperienced and ill-prepared for the realities of adult relationships. Their marriage deteriorated further, providing some of the darkest material she would eventually confront in her autobiographical writing.
Her Husband Made An Unthinkable Proposition
According to Collins, her marriage to Reed reached a horrifying turning point when he suggested accepting money from a wealthy man in exchange for allowing the man to sleep with her. Collins recalled being appalled that her own husband would seriously entertain such an arrangement. The marriage ended in divorce in 1956, but the experience became one of the most shocking revelations in her later accounts of her life.
Her Love Life Became A Hollywood Spectacle
After leaving Reed, Collins embraced the freedom of being a young actress surrounded by Hollywood's most eligible men. Her romantic history would eventually include famous names such as Harry Belafonte, Sydney Chaplin, and Warren Beatty, making her personal life almost as fascinating to the public as her film career. She later described herself as a serial monogamist, explaining that she moved from one serious relationship to another rather than seeking casual encounters.
One Affair Left Her Miserable
Among the relationships Collins later discussed was an affair with director George Englund, who was married to actress Cloris Leachman at the time. Although she remembered Englund as charming and intelligent, Collins admitted that the secrecy and deception surrounding their involvement made the experience miserable. She eventually ended the relationship, but another handsome Hollywood star was about to enter her life.
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Warren Beatty Swept Her Off Her Feet
Collins began a relationship with Warren Beatty when he was still an ambitious young actor, and their romance became one of the most famous chapters in her personal history. The couple became engaged, but their relationship was complicated by professional ambitions and the pressures of maintaining successful Hollywood careers. Decades later, Collins would write candidly about their time together, including a deeply personal decision that changed the course of her life.
Their Romance Ended In Heartbreak
When Collins became pregnant with Beatty's child, she later recalled, he worried that parenthood would seriously damage their developing careers. Collins ultimately had an abortion, an experience she revisited in her 2023 memoir Behind the Shoulder Pads. Looking back, she acknowledged the complicated emotions surrounding that decision while reflecting on how differently her life might have unfolded.
Hollywood Had An Ugly Side
Collins also encountered the notorious casting-couch culture that gave powerful men enormous influence over the careers of young actresses. She later claimed that she had been offered a potential opportunity to play Cleopatra if she agreed to accommodate the wishes of powerful studio executives. Collins refused, and Elizabeth Taylor eventually received the starring role in the enormously expensive 1963 production.
She Found Love With A British Showman
Following her engagement to Beatty, Collins married British entertainer Anthony Newley in 1963, beginning a relationship that initially seemed to offer greater stability. Newley was already an accomplished singer, actor, and songwriter, and the couple welcomed two children, Tara and Alexander. Collins later described her happiness at becoming a mother, although her second marriage would ultimately suffer from another painful betrayal.
Her Husband's Infidelity Became Impossible To Ignore
Newley was reportedly candid about his difficulties remaining faithful, something Collins later acknowledged she had been foolish to overlook. Their marriage deteriorated as she became increasingly troubled by his relationships with other women and his approach to their life together. They divorced in 1970, leaving Collins to balance motherhood with an acting career that was entering another unpredictable period.
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Her Third Marriage Brought More Trouble
In 1972, Collins married music executive and film producer Ronald Kass, with whom she welcomed her youngest daughter, Katyana. Kass had been associated with the Beatles' Apple Records, but his professional difficulties and escalating drug addiction eventually placed an enormous strain on their relationship. Collins later spoke openly about the devastating effects of his addiction, describing a marriage that became increasingly difficult to sustain.
Her Sister Was Writing Her Own Hollywood Scandals
While Joan was living through the unpredictable realities of show business, her younger sister Jackie Collins was building a hugely successful career writing sensational fiction about fame, money, and desire. Jackie's novels frequently explored the glamorous and ruthless world of wealthy entertainers, powerful businessmen, and complicated romantic relationships. The sisters maintained a close relationship, and their professional worlds would eventually intersect in a way that helped transform Joan's career.
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Jackie Gave Her Sister A Daring Comeback
In 1978, Joan starred in The Stud, a film adaptation of Jackie's novel about the complicated romantic entanglements of wealthy London socialites. Jackie helped bring the novel to the screen with Joan in the leading role, recognizing her sister's talent for portraying commanding women.
She Finally Told Her Own Story
Also in 1978, Collins published Past Imperfect, her first autobiography, which offered readers a revealing account of her personal and professional life. Rather than presenting a carefully sanitized Hollywood success story, she discussed famous lovers, failed relationships, difficult experiences, and the unpredictable nature of her career. The book became a bestseller, demonstrating that audiences were just as interested in Collins' own adventures as they were in the fictional characters she portrayed.
Then Came The Role Of A Lifetime
In 1981, Collins joined the prime-time soap opera Dynasty as Alexis Carrington, the calculating former wife of wealthy businessman Blake Carrington. Her arrival helped transform the series into an international television sensation, with audiences enthusiastically following Alexis' elaborate schemes and spectacular confrontations. After decades of playing glamorous troublemakers, Collins had finally found the character who would make her a household name around the world.
Screenshot from Dynasty, ABC (1981–1989), Enhanced
The Public Couldn't Separate Joan From Alexis
Alexis became famous for her designer outfits, cutting remarks, extravagant lifestyle, and fierce rivalry with Blake's new wife, Krystle, played by Linda Evans. Collins later complained that audiences and the media increasingly confused her with the ruthless character she portrayed. The association sometimes frustrated her, but it also reinforced her public identity as a woman who knew exactly how to deliver a devastating one-liner.
Screenshot from Dynasty, ABC (1981–1989)
Her Fourth Husband Added Another Scandal
At the height of her Dynasty fame, Collins married Swedish singer Peter Holm in 1985, beginning what became one of the most contentious relationships of her life. She later accused Holm of exploiting her celebrity and claimed she discovered him with another woman during their marriage. Their bitter divorce was finalized in 1987, giving Collins another extraordinary chapter for the memoirs she would eventually publish.
She Turned Her Experience Into Fiction
Having spent decades observing Hollywood's ambitions, rivalries, relationships, and betrayals, Collins began exploring similar territory as a novelist. Her debut novel, Prime Time, appeared in 1988, followed by Love & Desire & Hate in 1990, establishing her as a writer of glamorous, dramatic fiction. Although these stories were fictional, their themes closely reflected the world of wealth, celebrity, romance, and professional competition she knew firsthand.
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Her Books Were Full Of Hollywood Intrigue
Collins continued writing novels about powerful personalities and complicated relationships, including Too Damn Famous, published in 1995, and Star Quality, released in 2002. Her fictional worlds featured the same fascination with ambition, glamour, and personal conflict that had defined much of her screen career. Readers familiar with her colorful personal history could recognize the kinds of social environments she described, although individual characters should not automatically be mistaken for portraits of real acquaintances.
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Even Her Writing Career Became A Public Battle
In the 1990s, Collins became embroiled in a highly publicized legal dispute with publisher Random House over a two-book contract reportedly worth $4 million. The company argued that she had failed to fulfill her contractual obligations, while Collins maintained that she deserved additional payment for her work. The dispute eventually reached a New York courtroom, where her abilities as a novelist became the subject of intense public scrutiny.
She Refused To Back Down
In February 1996, a jury delivered a mixed verdict, finding that Collins had fulfilled her obligation for one novel but not the second. The decision represented a partial victory for the actress, who had spent years fighting the publisher over the disputed contract. Collins expressed relief after the ruling and continued pursuing her writing career, demonstrating that even a bruising legal battle could not persuade her to abandon the profession.
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Her Fifth Marriage Changed Everything
After four unsuccessful marriages, Collins met theatrical producer Percy Gibson in 2000 while preparing for a stage production. Despite their significant age difference, the pair developed a close friendship that eventually blossomed into a romantic relationship, and they married in February 2002. Collins later described their marriage as the happiest of her life, crediting their friendship and shared sense of humor as important foundations of their relationship.
She Kept Writing About Her Remarkable Life
Collins continued publishing autobiographical works, including Second Act, Passion for Life, and The World According to Joan, drawing on her extensive experiences in entertainment and relationships. She also wrote about beauty, fashion, aging, marriage, and the lessons she believed she had learned throughout her career. Her literary output demonstrated that Collins had developed a second successful profession by transforming decades of experience into stories and advice for readers.
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Her Private Diaries Were Even More Revealing
In 2021, Collins published My Unapologetic Diaries, a collection of personal observations recorded between 1989 and 2009. Having kept diaries since childhood, she drew on her own records of celebrity encounters, glamorous parties, social events, and private frustrations to create a revealing portrait of her world. The result offered readers something different from a conventional autobiography because many of its observations had been recorded close to the time the events actually occurred.
She Still Had Secrets Left To Tell
At 90, Collins published Behind the Shoulder Pads in 2023, proving that she was far from finished revisiting her extraordinary past. The memoir brought together previously untold stories about Hollywood, relationships, personal struggles, and the remarkable people she had encountered during her career. In an accompanying interview with The Guardian, she discussed everything from her painful early marriage to her relationships with famous men, showing that her willingness to speak candidly had hardly diminished with age.
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She Turned A Wild Life Into A Literary Legacy
Joan Collins spent much of her career portraying women caught up in sensational romances, vicious rivalries, and dramatic betrayals, but many of her own experiences were equally extraordinary. Across her memoirs, diaries, and novels, she drew on a lifetime of Hollywood encounters, romantic disappointments, hard-won professional victories, and personal reinvention. The result is a remarkable second career built around a woman who experienced Hollywood's most glamorous era firsthand and eventually discovered that her own life contained enough stories to keep readers entertained for decades.
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