September 19, 2015
Evan Agostini/AP
In this Feb. 24, 2013 file photo, author Jackie Collins arrives at the 2013 Vanity Fair Oscars Viewing and After Party in West Hollywood, Calif. Collins, died in Los Angeles on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, of breast cancer. She was 77.
Best-selling English novelist Jackie Collins died Saturday in Los Angeles after battling breast cancer for more than six years. She was 77.
Collins, whose 32 novels sold more than 500 million copies and frequently appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2009, but largely kept her struggle private with her three daughters, People reports.
Some of Collins' most recognized work includes the five-novel Hollywood series, which depicted both the glamour and disarray of affluent life. She has been translated into 40 languages and eight of her novels were adapted for the screen.
The Collins family issued the following statement:
“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. 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.”
The younger sister of actress Joan Collins, she faced controversy early in her career, writing novels so steamy they outraged political figures from Britain to China.
Collins, who promised readers unrivaled insiders' knowledge of Hollywood, said she wrote about "real people in disguise."
"If anything, my characters are toned down - the truth is much more bizarre," she wrote on her website.
Private memorial services for Collins will be held in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
In lieu of flowers, the Collins family has requested that donations be made to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Organization and the Penny Brohn Cancer Center in the United Kingdom.
Reuters contributed to this report.
