WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.299 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. You hand us the 00:00:02.299 --> 00:00:04.320 complete file on a subject and we give you the 00:00:04.320 --> 00:00:07.459 analysis, the context and, well, the key insights 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:10.640 you need to really be informed. Today, we are 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:13.699 taking a long, luxurious and I think surprisingly 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:16.379 strategic look at the life and the business of 00:00:16.379 --> 00:00:18.519 Jackie Collins. It's one of those cases where 00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:21.140 the source material reads like fiction itself. 00:00:21.739 --> 00:00:24.500 You know, a classic rags to riches, scandal to 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:27.219 success story. But all the numbers, all the facts 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:30.640 are real. Our mission today is to get past that 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:32.840 public image, the leopard print, the glamour, 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:36.439 all of that overt sex appeal and really understand 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:40.060 the sharp business mind and frankly, the ferocious 00:00:40.060 --> 00:00:42.409 dedication that kept her career going. Absolutely. 00:00:42.509 --> 00:00:44.670 She was a master strategist sort of operating 00:00:44.670 --> 00:00:46.969 under the guise of this flamboyant novelist. 00:00:46.990 --> 00:00:49.289 She really was. Exactly. Our listener wants the 00:00:49.289 --> 00:00:52.009 shortcut to understanding the trajectory and 00:00:52.009 --> 00:00:55.770 the truly dual life of the woman who didn't just 00:00:55.770 --> 00:00:57.670 write the modern airport novel. She basically 00:00:57.670 --> 00:00:59.289 defined it. And when we talk about success, I 00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:00.630 mean, we're talking about a commercial machine, 00:01:00.789 --> 00:01:04.189 32 novels. And every single one of them, a New 00:01:04.189 --> 00:01:07.209 York Times bestseller, global sales passed 500 00:01:07.209 --> 00:01:10.370 million copies, translations into 40 languages. 00:01:10.530 --> 00:01:12.730 That's not just... writing that is building a 00:01:12.730 --> 00:01:15.989 global brand well that kind of consistency over 00:01:15.989 --> 00:01:18.790 decades yeah it's almost unheard of it's like 00:01:18.790 --> 00:01:21.250 a perfect batting average in the most competitive 00:01:21.250 --> 00:01:25.430 market in publishing she never not once faltered 00:01:25.430 --> 00:01:27.629 in giving her audience exactly what they wanted 00:01:27.629 --> 00:01:30.090 and she never apologized for it did she never 00:01:30.090 --> 00:01:32.290 that's what's so crucial she would say you know 00:01:32.290 --> 00:01:35.230 i'm not a literary writer her success was built 00:01:35.230 --> 00:01:39.049 on this profound almost sociological understanding 00:01:39.049 --> 00:01:42.030 of what people really wanted to read no matter 00:01:42.030 --> 00:01:44.650 what the critics thought she tapped into the 00:01:44.650 --> 00:01:46.849 forbidden the glamorous the intensely sexual 00:01:46.849 --> 00:01:49.290 and she did it with total confidence so that's 00:01:49.290 --> 00:01:51.769 what we're unpacking this this strategic life, 00:01:51.909 --> 00:01:53.730 we're going to dive into the scandalous start 00:01:53.730 --> 00:01:56.010 that launched her career because, you know, nothing 00:01:56.010 --> 00:01:58.230 works better than a bit of controversy. We'll 00:01:58.230 --> 00:02:00.230 trace her critical move to Hollywood and her 00:02:00.230 --> 00:02:03.329 genius research method as this quiet observer. 00:02:03.629 --> 00:02:05.549 We'll spend a good amount of time dissecting 00:02:05.549 --> 00:02:07.969 the literary universe she built, anchored by 00:02:07.969 --> 00:02:10.569 her most powerful character, Lucky Santangelo. 00:02:10.729 --> 00:02:12.990 And then finally, we'll look at the quiet, devastating 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:15.550 tragedies she was facing while she was writing 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:17.750 about all this endless glamour and liberation. 00:02:18.189 --> 00:02:21.050 It really is a study in contrast. The public 00:02:21.050 --> 00:02:24.150 spectacle versus the private focus. The writer 00:02:24.150 --> 00:02:26.930 who knew everyone else's secrets while keeping 00:02:26.930 --> 00:02:30.310 her own so, so closely guarded. That tension, 00:02:30.310 --> 00:02:34.129 I think, is the fuel for her entire career. Okay, 00:02:34.169 --> 00:02:35.669 let's unpack this journey. Let's start right 00:02:35.669 --> 00:02:38.990 at the beginning, in mid -century London. Jacqueline 00:02:38.990 --> 00:02:42.310 Jill Collins, born in Hampstead, London in 1937. 00:02:42.770 --> 00:02:46.449 And the context of her childhood is just. It's 00:02:46.449 --> 00:02:48.330 absolutely vital to understanding everything 00:02:48.330 --> 00:02:50.530 that comes later. She didn't grow up sheltered. 00:02:50.530 --> 00:02:52.710 Not at all. She grew up in the epicenter of show 00:02:52.710 --> 00:02:54.870 business ambition. Exactly. I mean, that family 00:02:54.870 --> 00:02:57.009 environment is the first key piece of context. 00:02:57.330 --> 00:03:00.509 Her father, Joseph William Collins, he wasn't 00:03:00.509 --> 00:03:02.490 just a theatrical agent. He was a top -level 00:03:02.490 --> 00:03:05.270 operator. His clients included Shirley Bassey, 00:03:05.330 --> 00:03:07.189 The Beatles. The Beatles, right, as they were 00:03:07.189 --> 00:03:09.689 becoming a global phenomenon. And Tom Jones. 00:03:10.270 --> 00:03:12.789 What does growing up in that kind of atmosphere 00:03:12.789 --> 00:03:16.039 teach you? It teaches you about... the business 00:03:16.039 --> 00:03:18.740 side of fame. Exactly. The transactional nature 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:21.039 of it, the egos, the high stakes, the money, 00:03:21.099 --> 00:03:23.520 and the constant performance that you need to 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:26.099 succeed. She wasn't just near celebrity. She 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:28.699 was completely immersed in the business of selling 00:03:28.699 --> 00:03:31.719 spectacle. And we should probably note her mixed 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:34.520 heritage, too, which likely added another layer 00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:37.120 to her upbringing. Her father was South African, 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:40.159 born Jewish. Her mother, British Anglican. And 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.280 while her older sister, Joan, was, you know, 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:44.960 pursuing the acting path. Right. Jackie was already 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:47.060 showing these signs of rebellion and surprisingly, 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:50.680 this very specific, very marketable talent for 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:52.840 storytelling. Oh, that rebellion defines her 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:54.830 early teenage. year. She went to Francis Holland 00:03:54.830 --> 00:03:57.409 School, which is this reputable independent day 00:03:57.409 --> 00:04:00.889 school for girls. But that kind of formality, 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:05.030 it just didn't suit her temperament. And the 00:04:05.030 --> 00:04:08.469 pivotal fact is that she was expelled at age 00:04:08.469 --> 00:04:12.409 15. She later fully embraced this identity, admitting 00:04:12.409 --> 00:04:15.610 she was a school dropout and a juvenile delinquent. 00:04:16.050 --> 00:04:18.430 She even said she was glad she got all of that 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:21.920 out of her system at an early age. That Early 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:23.920 break with convention, I think it gave her the 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:26.279 perspective of an outsider looking in, which 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:28.379 is essential for a writer. And here is where 00:04:28.379 --> 00:04:30.939 we see the direct line, the connection between 00:04:30.939 --> 00:04:33.740 that rebellious teenager and her eventual career. 00:04:34.180 --> 00:04:37.040 She made this incredible claim that even at 13, 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:39.540 while she was still at school, her classmates 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:42.519 would actually pay her. Pay her. To listen to 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:45.220 the sex scene she wrote during her lessons. It's 00:04:45.220 --> 00:04:47.480 astonishing, isn't it? Long before she had a 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:49.199 book deal, she had a self -sustaining commercial 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.240 venture centered around salacious content. She'd 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.100 already found her market. She'd identified that 00:04:54.100 --> 00:04:56.160 people were hungry for these kinds of scandalous, 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:58.319 boundary -pushing stories. She discovered her 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:01.180 voice and her audience at the same time, which 00:05:01.180 --> 00:05:03.660 confirmed that what she found interesting, other 00:05:03.660 --> 00:05:06.519 people did too. That early confidence, that sense 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:09.480 of, I can monetize this, that's the foundation 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:12.000 of her entire publishing empire. And the most, 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:14.930 well... The most eye -opening story that confirms 00:05:14.930 --> 00:05:17.790 the kind of fast life she was living at 15 is 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:20.370 the reported brief affair with Marlon Brando. 00:05:20.410 --> 00:05:24.029 He was 29 at the time. It's a detail that, frankly, 00:05:24.149 --> 00:05:25.810 sounds like it belongs in one of her own novels. 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:28.689 Brando was already a global superstar, a symbol 00:05:28.689 --> 00:05:32.889 of this raw, dangerous masculinity. For a 15 00:05:32.889 --> 00:05:34.509 -year -old girl to be involved in that kind of 00:05:34.509 --> 00:05:37.930 scenario, it just speaks volumes about... the 00:05:37.930 --> 00:05:40.509 chaotic high stakes world she was already in. 00:05:40.589 --> 00:05:42.370 She later kind of downplayed it, called it a 00:05:42.370 --> 00:05:44.850 schoolgirl crush. That was fun. But the sheer 00:05:44.850 --> 00:05:47.310 fact that it happened reinforces this idea that 00:05:47.310 --> 00:05:49.209 her life was often as dramatic as her fiction. 00:05:49.430 --> 00:05:51.389 She wasn't just going to be writing about Hollywood 00:05:51.389 --> 00:05:54.069 from the outside. She was gathering real lived 00:05:54.069 --> 00:05:56.949 experience, even if it was, you know, tumultuous 00:05:56.949 --> 00:05:59.329 and premature. It gave her an authenticity that 00:05:59.329 --> 00:06:01.910 critics couldn't just dismiss. And she did initially 00:06:01.910 --> 00:06:04.639 try to follow her sister Joan into acting. In 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:07.339 1956, she moved to L .A. to visit Joan, try to 00:06:07.339 --> 00:06:09.540 get groomed for stardom at 20th Century Fox. 00:06:09.819 --> 00:06:12.079 But that dream was pretty short -lived. She couldn't 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:14.120 get a work permit and had to go back to London. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:16.819 Yeah, her acting detour was just a series of 00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:19.600 attempts that never quite took off. She ended 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:22.040 up in a bunch of British B -movies in the late 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:25.139 50s and early 60s. She was often credited as 00:06:25.139 --> 00:06:27.620 Lynn Curtis. You know, things like Barnacle Bill 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:30.959 in 57, The Shakedown in 1960, a few small TV 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:34.060 spots. But then she gave it up. And you have 00:06:34.060 --> 00:06:36.199 to ask why. Well, the actress is dependent on 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:38.259 everyone else, right? The script, the director. 00:06:38.459 --> 00:06:41.199 The casting agent. The writer controls the entire 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:44.360 universe. And that's the pivot she made. And 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:46.939 that pivot was really catalyzed by some external 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:49.639 validation. But it was validation that saw her 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:51.740 true power. She'd started a bunch of stories 00:06:51.740 --> 00:06:54.139 and just abandoned them, found it hard to finish. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:56.540 It was her second husband, Oscar Lerman, who 00:06:56.540 --> 00:06:58.420 made the difference. Right. He owned nightclubs. 00:06:58.420 --> 00:07:00.980 He was part of that whole scene. And he saw her 00:07:00.980 --> 00:07:03.949 ability to just... captivate people with stories 00:07:03.949 --> 00:07:05.569 he was the one who told her to finish that first 00:07:05.569 --> 00:07:08.370 novel yeah he just said to her you're a storyteller 00:07:08.370 --> 00:07:11.389 and that simple intervention shifted her focus 00:07:11.389 --> 00:07:14.649 completely away from the camera toward the typewriter 00:07:14.649 --> 00:07:18.120 and the result The world is full of married men. 00:07:18.259 --> 00:07:21.120 Published in 1968, it wasn't just a book launch. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:23.920 It was a cultural explosion designed to burn 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:26.399 down the old way of doing things. It was an absolute 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:29.220 fireball. This is where her strategy of leveraging 00:07:29.220 --> 00:07:31.339 outrage really began, whether it was intentional 00:07:31.339 --> 00:07:34.060 at first or not. The book was immediately controversial 00:07:34.060 --> 00:07:36.740 because it didn't just hint at infidelity and 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:40.019 sex. It dove right in with unflinching detail. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:43.060 And that controversy launched her career. The 00:07:43.060 --> 00:07:45.319 specific response from the romantic novelist 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:47.980 Barbara Cartland It's the stuff of publishing 00:07:47.980 --> 00:07:50.519 legend. Oh, it's perfect. Carlin, who was the 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:53.939 queen of this wholesome, chaste romance, called 00:07:53.939 --> 00:07:56.459 the book nasty, filthy and disgusting. You can't 00:07:56.459 --> 00:07:58.439 buy that kind of marketing. I mean, that critique 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:01.180 coming from the personification of traditional 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:04.180 literary romance, it immediately framed Collins 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:07.079 as this dangerous modern rebel who was writing 00:08:07.079 --> 00:08:09.540 the truth no one else dared to. And Carlin didn't 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:12.060 even stop there. She specifically accused Collins 00:08:12.060 --> 00:08:14.899 of creating every pervert in Britain. I mean, 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:17.180 if you were a young person in... 1968, looking 00:08:17.180 --> 00:08:20.439 for something scandalous to read. What is more 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:22.980 enticing than a book that's been condemned by 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:25.360 literary royalty? It had real commercial impact, 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:27.439 too. The book was banned in Australia and South 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:30.199 Africa. But the scandal, just as you'd expect, 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:32.580 sent sales through the roof in the U .S. and 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:36.019 the U .K. The lesson was clear. Outrage, when 00:08:36.019 --> 00:08:38.080 you manage it correctly, is a phenomenal sales 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.460 driver. She was instantly established as the 00:08:40.460 --> 00:08:43.100 queen of the taboo, the woman writing about the 00:08:43.100 --> 00:08:45.659 things of polite society, and the critics pretended 00:08:45.659 --> 00:08:48.360 didn't exist. And she cemented that success with 00:08:48.360 --> 00:08:51.379 breakneck speed. Her second novel, The Stud, 00:08:51.580 --> 00:08:54.879 followed just a year later in 1969, and it also 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:57.340 soared onto the bestseller list. That speed is 00:08:57.340 --> 00:08:59.500 so important because it showed the industry she 00:08:59.500 --> 00:09:01.919 wasn't a one -hit wonder. Right. She wasn't just 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:04.480 lucky with one controversy. By the 70s, she was... 00:09:04.460 --> 00:09:06.299 wasn't just riding a wave, she was establishing 00:09:06.299 --> 00:09:08.620 a market. People were already considering her 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:10.740 a peer of authors like Sidney Sheldon and Harold 00:09:10.740 --> 00:09:13.879 Robbins. Her emergence really signaled that a 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:16.039 female writer could command that huge popular 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:19.379 market, not by writing romance, but by writing 00:09:19.379 --> 00:09:23.169 about female power. sex and intrigue, often with 00:09:23.169 --> 00:09:25.570 more grit than her male counterparts. And you 00:09:25.570 --> 00:09:28.029 can see her experimenting as she goes. Her third 00:09:28.029 --> 00:09:30.370 novel, Sunday Simmons and Charlie Brick, came 00:09:30.370 --> 00:09:33.830 out in 1971. The U .S. title was The Hollywood 00:09:33.830 --> 00:09:36.169 Zoo. So she's already testing the waters of that 00:09:36.169 --> 00:09:38.250 American celebrity setting that would become 00:09:38.250 --> 00:09:40.769 her brand. She realized the unique power of the 00:09:40.769 --> 00:09:42.710 Hollywood setting, you know, a place where people 00:09:42.710 --> 00:09:44.850 go specifically to become someone they're not. 00:09:45.179 --> 00:09:48.460 And then in 1974, with Lovehead, which was later 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:51.460 retitled The Love Killers, she made another pivotal 00:09:51.460 --> 00:09:54.899 discovery for her career. Organized crime. Yes. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:57.659 The sources confirmed that this foray into the 00:09:57.659 --> 00:10:00.779 world of gangsters, mixing crime with high society 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:03.659 and passion, it proved to be extremely successful. 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:06.879 This blends of genres, crime thriller, social 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:09.980 expose, erotic drama. That was her key innovation. 00:10:10.490 --> 00:10:12.350 She wasn't just writing about sex, she was writing 00:10:12.350 --> 00:10:15.210 about power. And that paved the way for her most 00:10:15.210 --> 00:10:18.090 iconic creation. She kept up this incredible 00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:20.529 pace all through the decade. The world is full 00:10:20.529 --> 00:10:23.549 of divorced women in 75, lovers and gamblers 00:10:23.549 --> 00:10:26.929 in 77. This machine gun pace just ensured she 00:10:26.929 --> 00:10:29.549 was always on the bestseller lists. And crucially, 00:10:29.610 --> 00:10:31.830 we see the early synergy between her writing 00:10:31.830 --> 00:10:34.110 and film. And again, it's connected to her sister. 00:10:34.250 --> 00:10:36.769 She co -wrote the screenplay for the 1978 film 00:10:36.769 --> 00:10:39.289 of The Stud, which starred Joan Collins as the 00:10:39.289 --> 00:10:41.690 infamous Fontaine Collard. Then she writes the 00:10:41.690 --> 00:10:44.950 book sequel The Bitch in 1979, which also became 00:10:44.950 --> 00:10:47.269 a successful film with Joan reprising the role 00:10:47.269 --> 00:10:49.370 and Jackie writing that screenplay, too. It's 00:10:49.370 --> 00:10:51.929 a closed loop media strategy long before we were 00:10:51.929 --> 00:10:54.490 all talking about content franchises. Jackie 00:10:54.490 --> 00:10:57.470 writes the outrageous story. Joan stars in the 00:10:57.470 --> 00:10:59.850 movie. And both of their careers are lifted up 00:10:59.850 --> 00:11:02.110 by the joint notoriety of the sexy, glamorous 00:11:02.110 --> 00:11:05.200 Collins sisters. They were the ultimate 80s media 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.039 partnership. And what's crucial here is that 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:09.059 even when she was co -writing those screenplays, 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:12.159 she was already asserting control over the visual 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:14.679 product. She was setting the expectation that 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:16.980 she was more than just a novelist. She understood 00:11:16.980 --> 00:11:20.120 that Hollywood often sanitizes or just misinterprets 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:22.659 the source material. And if she wanted her unique, 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.440 edgy vision to be maintained, she had to be in 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:28.440 the writer's room. This mastery of the multimedia 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:31.159 opportunity is exactly what led to her most strategic 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:34.419 decision of all. The permanent move to Los Angeles. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:37.059 Right. So the move to Los Angeles in the 1980s, 00:11:37.059 --> 00:11:39.039 it was not a lifestyle choice. It was a corporate 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.279 expansion. She had established herself as a bestselling 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:43.899 author, but she realized that to chronicle the 00:11:43.899 --> 00:11:46.100 rich and famous, you needed constant firsthand 00:11:46.100 --> 00:11:49.059 access. So she and her family made a strategic 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:51.580 full -time relocation. This is the moment she 00:11:51.580 --> 00:11:53.360 starts treating her career like a true business. 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:56.899 She understood geography as destiny, and she 00:11:56.899 --> 00:11:58.519 actually codified her thinking with this truly 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:00.980 strategic quote. She said, if you wish to be 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:03.399 successful, there is a place you should be at 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:06.899 a certain time. And Los Angeles in the 1980s 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:09.720 was it. That's pure business strategy, placing 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:11.759 her operational headquarters right in the center 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:14.039 of her product market. And the 1980s were just 00:12:14.039 --> 00:12:18.080 peak excess for Hollywood. The rise of the super 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:20.679 agent, the explosion of these expensive primetime 00:12:20.679 --> 00:12:23.360 soaps, the obsession with celebrity culture and 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:25.720 all the money fueling it. By moving into the 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:28.419 hills above Sunset Boulevard, she started collecting 00:12:28.419 --> 00:12:30.799 the genuine knowledge that would just redefine 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:33.179 her career. But that raises a big question, right? 00:12:33.259 --> 00:12:35.639 If you're a glamorous celebrity yourself, how 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:37.659 do you get people's genuine secrets? Everyone 00:12:37.659 --> 00:12:39.639 around you is performing. How do you tell the 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:41.740 difference between the public show and the private 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:44.360 trauma? That is the genius of her research method. 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:47.600 The writer Dominic Dunn, who moved in the same 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:50.679 elite circles, he provided the answer. He noted 00:12:50.679 --> 00:12:52.879 that while Collins was a great partygoer, always 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:55.759 glamorous, always there, she went to these events 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:58.679 more as an observer than participant. She wasn't 00:12:58.679 --> 00:13:00.580 chasing the spotlight. She was gathering data. 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:03.340 She was basically an industrial spy operating 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:05.759 in plain sight. She was listening for dialogue, 00:13:05.879 --> 00:13:08.120 for the microaggressions, for the social anxieties 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:10.860 hidden under the designer dresses. She was fictionalizing 00:13:10.860 --> 00:13:13.639 the patterns of behavior she saw, which reinforces 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:16.080 her core advice to writers, write about what 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:19.139 you know. This is why her books, even with all 00:13:19.139 --> 00:13:22.100 the sensationalism, always felt grounded. They 00:13:22.100 --> 00:13:24.460 had the texture and the specific, believable 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:27.279 flavor of L .A. life because she was taking notes. 00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:30.039 And that rigorous discipline observation led 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:32.519 directly to her most commercially explosive novel. 00:13:32.990 --> 00:13:36.309 Hollywood Wives, 1983. This wasn't just a hit. 00:13:36.330 --> 00:13:39.269 It was a defining cultural moment that just crystallized 00:13:39.269 --> 00:13:41.769 the entire era. The commercial metrics are staggering. 00:13:42.129 --> 00:13:44.549 It hit number one on the New York Times bestseller 00:13:44.549 --> 00:13:47.090 list immediately. It went on to sell over 15 00:13:47.090 --> 00:13:49.710 million copies. And the marketing was brilliant. 00:13:49.889 --> 00:13:53.009 It was openly sold as a scandalous expose. A 00:13:53.009 --> 00:13:55.490 tell -all, promising to rip the velvet curtains 00:13:55.490 --> 00:13:57.610 back on the people America was watching on TV 00:13:57.610 --> 00:14:00.309 every single week. And the timing, with her sister. 00:14:00.860 --> 00:14:03.100 It couldn't have been better. Hollywood Wives 00:14:03.100 --> 00:14:05.620 elevated Jackie to near -equal status celebrity 00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:09.000 -wise with Joan, who was dominating global culture 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:12.120 as Alexis Colby in Dynasty. They were this joint 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:14.700 phenomenon, defining the global conversation 00:14:14.700 --> 00:14:19.250 about glamour, power, and shoulder pads. Naturally, 00:14:19.370 --> 00:14:21.149 Hollywood Wives was fast -tracked for adaptation. 00:14:21.590 --> 00:14:24.870 In 1985, it became this massive, star -studded 00:14:24.870 --> 00:14:27.190 television miniseries produced by Aaron Spelling, 00:14:27.289 --> 00:14:29.669 the king of primetime soap. The cast alone tells 00:14:29.669 --> 00:14:32.210 you how big the book was. Candice Bergen, Stephanie 00:14:32.210 --> 00:14:35.049 Powers, Angie Dickinson, Anthony Hopkins, Suzanne 00:14:35.049 --> 00:14:37.669 Somers, Rod Steiger. It was an event. But despite 00:14:37.669 --> 00:14:40.049 the success, this is the crucial turning point 00:14:40.049 --> 00:14:42.450 where we see Collins start to push back aggressively 00:14:42.450 --> 00:14:46.440 against external creative control. She was credited 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:48.980 as a creative consultant, but she later made 00:14:48.980 --> 00:14:51.259 it very clear she was never actually consulted. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:54.279 And this is the strategic insight. She realized 00:14:54.279 --> 00:14:56.840 that Hollywood, even when adapting her expose, 00:14:57.019 --> 00:14:59.879 would ultimately sanitize the work for network 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:02.879 television. She disagreed with some of the casting, 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:05.919 finding them too bland, too far removed from 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:08.200 the grit of her characters. So the title creative 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:11.019 consultant was meaningless. The miniseries was 00:15:11.019 --> 00:15:13.639 a huge commercial success, but for Jackie Collins, 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:16.200 it was a failure in maintaining artistic integrity. 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:18.580 It taught her that to preserve her vision, she 00:15:18.580 --> 00:15:21.419 needed deeper executive level involvement. She 00:15:21.419 --> 00:15:23.480 couldn't just sell the rights anymore. Exactly. 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:26.000 This is what spurred her to take serious creative 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.909 control over all the later adaptations. We'd 00:15:28.909 --> 00:15:30.909 seen her co -write screenplays, but now she aimed 00:15:30.909 --> 00:15:33.950 higher. And we see that transformation with her 00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:37.210 Lucky Santangelo series. In 1990, she didn't 00:15:37.210 --> 00:15:39.929 just publish the novel Lady Boss. She actively 00:15:39.929 --> 00:15:42.710 wrote and co -produced the television miniseries 00:15:42.710 --> 00:15:45.649 Lucky Chances. And this miniseries combined her 00:15:45.649 --> 00:15:48.070 first two Lucky novels and starred Nicolette 00:15:48.070 --> 00:15:50.649 Sheridan and a very young Sandra Bullock. Moving 00:15:50.649 --> 00:15:52.850 from selling rights to becoming a writer and 00:15:52.850 --> 00:15:56.350 co -producer, that is a monumental shift in power. 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.759 especially in 1990s Hollywood television. She 00:15:59.759 --> 00:16:01.600 was now dictating how her characters looked, 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:04.340 sounded, and acted on screen. She was making 00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:06.659 sure the tone matched her books, the sharp dialogue, 00:16:06.940 --> 00:16:09.480 the explicit sexuality, the real -world power 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:12.600 dynamics. She did it again in 1992, writing and 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:15.120 producing another miniseries based on the Lady 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.419 Boss novel starring Kim Delaney. She was proving 00:16:17.419 --> 00:16:19.259 she wasn't just a best -selling novelist, she 00:16:19.259 --> 00:16:21.139 was an executive producer who understood the 00:16:21.139 --> 00:16:23.419 machinery of television production. It connects 00:16:23.419 --> 00:16:26.320 right back to her youth. Her father was the powerful 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:29.259 figure connecting talent to the stage. Jackie 00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:32.159 ultimately gained that control herself, but through 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:35.240 narrative ownership and self -production. She 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:37.820 learned from the Hollywood Wives experience that 00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:40.220 if you want your dangerous, unsanitized vision 00:16:40.220 --> 00:16:43.159 maintained, you can't just be an advisor. You 00:16:43.159 --> 00:16:45.500 have to be the one holding the contract. She 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:47.820 fully inhabited the persona of a lady boss in 00:16:47.820 --> 00:16:50.100 her business dealings. The synergy was perfect. 00:16:50.570 --> 00:16:53.049 Living the life, using the life as material, 00:16:53.269 --> 00:16:55.490 and then controlling the visual adaptations of 00:16:55.490 --> 00:16:57.950 that material. Okay, now that we've seen how 00:16:57.950 --> 00:17:00.289 she mastered the business side, we absolutely 00:17:00.289 --> 00:17:02.830 have to look deeper into the literary universe 00:17:02.830 --> 00:17:05.410 she created, specifically her most important, 00:17:05.509 --> 00:17:08.769 powerful character, Lucky Santangelo. If Jackie 00:17:08.769 --> 00:17:11.170 Collins had a fictional alter ego, a protagonist 00:17:11.170 --> 00:17:13.309 who embodied the glamour, the danger, and the 00:17:13.309 --> 00:17:15.890 ultimate unrelenting control she sought, it was 00:17:15.890 --> 00:17:18.460 Lucky Santangelo. She was introduced in the novel 00:17:18.460 --> 00:17:21.319 Chances in 1981, and this really marks the moment 00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:23.180 when Collins moved beyond writing just about 00:17:23.180 --> 00:17:26.180 society scandal and into crafting a genuine empire 00:17:26.180 --> 00:17:29.690 saga. Lucky is her signature masterpiece. The 00:17:29.690 --> 00:17:32.450 initial description is so vital because it establishes 00:17:32.450 --> 00:17:34.589 her duality. She's the dangerously beautiful 00:17:34.589 --> 00:17:37.829 daughter of a mob boss. This character synthesized 00:17:37.829 --> 00:17:39.869 everything Collins had been experimenting with. 00:17:40.029 --> 00:17:42.809 The high stakes crime element from the 70s and 00:17:42.809 --> 00:17:45.069 the high society Hollywood glamour of the 80s. 00:17:45.069 --> 00:17:47.529 Lucky is the perfect blend of street smarts and 00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:50.109 high class polish. And the longevity of the Lucky 00:17:50.109 --> 00:17:52.710 Santangelo saga is just incredible. It's a 10 00:17:52.710 --> 00:17:54.569 book series that anchored her writing career 00:17:54.569 --> 00:17:57.220 for over three decades. running from Chances 00:17:57.220 --> 00:18:00.700 in 1981 all the way through to her final novel, 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.000 The Santangelos, in 2015. She gave a sense of 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.099 conclusion to her most famous creation right 00:18:06.099 --> 00:18:08.380 before she passed away herself. And what's fascinating 00:18:08.380 --> 00:18:11.420 about a series with that kind of lifespan is 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:14.119 the character's evolution. It mirrors the growing 00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:16.240 power of women in business and culture during 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.109 that time. Lucky doesn't just age. She acquires 00:18:19.109 --> 00:18:21.190 power. She goes from being the daughter of the 00:18:21.190 --> 00:18:23.609 powerful figure Gino Sant 'Angelo to essentially 00:18:23.609 --> 00:18:26.349 wielding his influence herself. Right. Running 00:18:26.349 --> 00:18:29.349 Las Vegas casinos, navigating vendettas, dominating 00:18:29.349 --> 00:18:31.769 her universe through sheer will. She's often 00:18:31.769 --> 00:18:34.069 ruthless, but always justified, you know, within 00:18:34.069 --> 00:18:36.690 the terms of her world. The titles alone tell 00:18:36.690 --> 00:18:39.930 the story of escalation and control. Chances, 00:18:40.130 --> 00:18:43.890 Lucky, Lady Boss, Vendetta. Lucky's Revenge, 00:18:43.930 --> 00:18:47.180 Dangerous Kiss, Drop Dead Beautiful. She just 00:18:47.180 --> 00:18:49.279 keeps escalating. She ensured that Lucky always 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:51.980 had the final word, always got her revenge, and 00:18:51.980 --> 00:18:54.079 always maintained control over her financial 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:56.099 and her emotional life. And this is where we 00:18:56.099 --> 00:18:58.380 return to those subtle details that really cement 00:18:58.380 --> 00:19:00.660 her technique. We have to talk about the Lucky 00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:03.319 Santangelo cookbook. The cookbook, yes. Published 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:05.619 in 2014, a cookbook for a gangster's daughter 00:19:05.619 --> 00:19:07.900 who runs casinos. It sounds like a ridiculous 00:19:07.900 --> 00:19:10.200 marketing tie -in, but it is pure Collins genius. 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:13.759 It does seem absurd on the surface, but it reinforces 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:16.160 the immersive nature of her fictional universe, 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.220 and more importantly, it lets her embed those 00:19:19.220 --> 00:19:22.259 little nuggets of darkness we mentioned. It has 00:19:22.259 --> 00:19:24.059 recipes alongside the character's narrative, 00:19:24.299 --> 00:19:26.259 but here's the detail from the source material 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:29.799 that is just so profound. Included in this cookbook 00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:33.200 is a flashback of Lucky watching her father throw 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:36.539 a plate of food at her mother as a child. That 00:19:36.539 --> 00:19:39.299 moment of domestic violence and trauma of volatility 00:19:39.299 --> 00:19:42.400 and fear tucked into a recipe book celebrating 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:44.700 high -end cuisine. It's the ultimate example 00:19:44.700 --> 00:19:47.579 of her signature technique. She puts trauma and 00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:49.599 dysfunction right beneath the surface of the 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:52.220 spectacle. It reminds you that even Lucky, the 00:19:52.220 --> 00:19:54.880 ultimate lady boss, comes from a messy, volatile 00:19:54.880 --> 00:19:56.759 background where power dynamics were learned 00:19:56.759 --> 00:19:58.559 through fear. It proves her interest was never 00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:00.960 purely in escapism. She was exploring how people 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:03.460 survive and even thrive in environments defined 00:20:03.460 --> 00:20:05.759 by chaos and danger. And it connects directly 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:07.940 to that thematic evolution we saw earlier. From 00:20:07.940 --> 00:20:11.259 simple sexual scandals in 68 into organized crime 00:20:11.259 --> 00:20:14.519 with Lovehead in 74, which was extremely successful. 00:20:15.210 --> 00:20:17.769 The Sant 'Angelo saga just fully capitalized 00:20:17.769 --> 00:20:20.769 on this powerful combination of money, crime, 00:20:20.869 --> 00:20:23.069 and high -stakes relationship. But Lucky wasn't 00:20:23.069 --> 00:20:25.549 her only empire. Beyond the Sant 'Angelo saga, 00:20:25.769 --> 00:20:28.690 she maintained and expanded her other core franchise, 00:20:28.990 --> 00:20:31.730 the Hollywood universe, which acted as this ongoing 00:20:31.730 --> 00:20:35.470 decade -by -decade snapshot of L .A. power. That's 00:20:35.470 --> 00:20:37.390 right. The Hollywood series isn't just a sequence 00:20:37.390 --> 00:20:39.650 of books. It's a structural analysis of the L 00:20:39.650 --> 00:20:42.349 .A. power ecosystem. You start, of course, with 00:20:42.349 --> 00:20:44.529 Hollywood Wives in 83, which focuses on the women 00:20:44.529 --> 00:20:46.609 whose status comes from their famous husbands. 00:20:47.069 --> 00:20:49.109 But then she immediately followed that with Hollywood 00:20:49.109 --> 00:20:51.369 Husbands in 86. Which shifts the focus. It's 00:20:51.369 --> 00:20:53.589 about the male ego, the infidelity, the desperate 00:20:53.589 --> 00:20:56.009 maneuvering of men clinging to youth and power 00:20:56.009 --> 00:20:58.950 in this ageist, hyper -sexualized industry. And 00:20:58.950 --> 00:21:01.990 then came Hollywood Kids in 1994. And this book 00:21:01.990 --> 00:21:04.269 is arguably the most poignant. It focuses on 00:21:04.269 --> 00:21:06.569 the children who inherit the fame, the trauma, 00:21:06.769 --> 00:21:09.049 the money, and the dysfunction of growing up 00:21:09.049 --> 00:21:11.589 in that goldfish bowl. She was looking at intergenerational 00:21:11.589 --> 00:21:14.509 celebrity damage. And then, as the new millennium 00:21:14.509 --> 00:21:17.369 dawned, she updated the franchise, Hollywood 00:21:17.369 --> 00:21:20.569 Wives. The new generation in 2001 looked at how 00:21:20.569 --> 00:21:23.210 power was being redefined in the post -internet 00:21:23.210 --> 00:21:26.390 celebrity landscape. And finally, Hollywood Divorces 00:21:26.390 --> 00:21:29.269 in 2003 centered on the inevitable fallout, the 00:21:29.269 --> 00:21:32.089 legal battles, the financial carnage. So these 00:21:32.089 --> 00:21:33.829 novels weren't just light reading. They were 00:21:33.829 --> 00:21:36.990 a continuous critique. Each book in the Hollywood 00:21:36.990 --> 00:21:39.630 series tackled a different specific facet of 00:21:39.630 --> 00:21:41.710 the power structures and pathologies of L .A. 00:21:41.730 --> 00:21:44.230 celebrity culture. She was showing us the system, 00:21:44.329 --> 00:21:46.630 the wives, the providers, the inheritors, and 00:21:46.630 --> 00:21:49.089 the inevitable dissolution. It's an incredibly 00:21:49.089 --> 00:21:51.430 comprehensive study wrapped in an accessible 00:21:51.430 --> 00:21:54.099 page -turning package. And she also introduced 00:21:54.099 --> 00:21:56.660 another distinct heroine, Madison Castelli, to 00:21:56.660 --> 00:21:59.519 expand her universe even further. Madison was 00:21:59.519 --> 00:22:01.720 an investigative journalist, a professional observer, 00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:04.460 a lot like Collins herself. Right. Madison first 00:22:04.460 --> 00:22:07.059 appeared in this four -part serial called L .A. 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:09.660 Connections in 1998, which was released in a 00:22:09.660 --> 00:22:12.549 newspaper every six weeks. That serialized release 00:22:12.549 --> 00:22:15.670 strategy just shows her continued savvy understanding 00:22:15.670 --> 00:22:18.890 of media using a popular format to introduce 00:22:18.890 --> 00:22:21.750 a new character to a mass audience outside of 00:22:21.750 --> 00:22:24.450 a traditional book launch. And Madison, the journalist, 00:22:24.730 --> 00:22:27.950 later got her own full novels like Lethal Seduction 00:22:27.950 --> 00:22:30.569 and Deadly Embrace. And she made it to the screen, 00:22:30.569 --> 00:22:33.069 too, with Paris Connections in 2010. Collins 00:22:33.069 --> 00:22:35.329 was a co -producer on that one as well. The commitment 00:22:35.329 --> 00:22:38.230 to franchising was total. If you look at the 00:22:38.230 --> 00:22:40.730 common thread between Lucky Santangelo, The Hollywood 00:22:40.730 --> 00:22:43.170 Wives, and Madison Costelli, it's clear. They 00:22:43.170 --> 00:22:46.150 are all powerful, resilient women navigating 00:22:46.150 --> 00:22:48.349 these treacherous patriarchal systems, often 00:22:48.349 --> 00:22:50.470 using their sexuality, their intelligence, and 00:22:50.470 --> 00:22:53.250 their money as deliberate weapons. She was crafting 00:22:53.250 --> 00:22:55.609 the ultimate feminist fantasy of the era, not 00:22:55.609 --> 00:22:58.089 a polite empowerment, but a ruthless, unapologetic 00:22:58.089 --> 00:23:00.950 control. And she gave us her philosophy on writing 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:03.490 these characters, too. She said, I loved writing 00:23:03.490 --> 00:23:06.009 about them and you love reading about them. With 00:23:06.009 --> 00:23:08.309 age comes experience. And she was specifically 00:23:08.309 --> 00:23:11.430 referring to the bad boys of Hollywood. That 00:23:11.430 --> 00:23:15.190 phrase, with age comes experience, is key. It 00:23:15.190 --> 00:23:17.509 implies her writing wasn't just imagination or 00:23:17.509 --> 00:23:20.529 rumor. It was informed by a life lived fully, 00:23:20.670 --> 00:23:23.690 maybe even recklessly in her youth, and then 00:23:23.690 --> 00:23:26.450 observed critically in her adulthood. She was 00:23:26.450 --> 00:23:28.690 always the knowledgeable guide, assuring the 00:23:28.690 --> 00:23:31.250 reader, I know the secrets, I know the trauma 00:23:31.250 --> 00:23:32.829 behind the spectacle, and I'm going to share 00:23:32.829 --> 00:23:35.769 them with you. But that public persona, the one 00:23:35.769 --> 00:23:38.490 who knew everyone else's secrets, was intentionally 00:23:38.490 --> 00:23:41.369 hiding a very different private reality. This 00:23:41.369 --> 00:23:43.130 is where the deep dive gets really interesting 00:23:43.130 --> 00:23:45.390 because it reveals the tension between the fantasy 00:23:45.390 --> 00:23:48.000 she sold and the life she actually lived. The 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.339 person who wrote relentlessly about endless glamour 00:23:50.339 --> 00:23:52.960 and control and sex appeal was, at the same time, 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:55.599 dealing with intense personal loss and genuine 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:58.539 profound tragedy behind the scenes. And she managed 00:23:58.539 --> 00:24:01.400 this extreme duality with, well, surgical precision. 00:24:01.740 --> 00:24:04.220 The source material is very clear that this duality 00:24:04.220 --> 00:24:06.779 was intentional. She deliberately promoted this 00:24:06.779 --> 00:24:08.759 flamboyant public image, the bright clothes, 00:24:09.019 --> 00:24:12.180 the witty, slightly scandalous interviews, specifically 00:24:12.180 --> 00:24:16.039 to market her books. But that persona also served 00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:18.460 as a protective shield, allowing her to write 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:21.180 about Hollywood's most guarded secrets while 00:24:21.180 --> 00:24:23.740 keeping her own life, which was marked by significant 00:24:23.740 --> 00:24:26.839 grief, intensely private. When you look at the 00:24:26.839 --> 00:24:29.339 three major romantic relationships in her life, 00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:33.880 the pattern of loss is just. It's striking. All 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:36.140 three ended tragically. It's an overwhelming 00:24:36.140 --> 00:24:39.079 amount of emotional chaos for someone whose professional 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:41.539 life was dedicated to crafting narratives where 00:24:41.539 --> 00:24:43.960 chaos is ultimately controlled by the heroine. 00:24:44.019 --> 00:24:46.140 Let's trace that path, because the nature of 00:24:46.140 --> 00:24:48.240 the loss really matters. Her first marriage was 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.000 to Wallace Austin in 1960. They divorced four 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:53.720 years later, in 64, after their relationship 00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:56.299 collapsed because of his addiction to drugs prescribed 00:24:56.299 --> 00:24:58.619 for manic depression. So the separation itself 00:24:58.619 --> 00:25:01.140 was painful, but the tragedy escalated the following 00:25:01.140 --> 00:25:03.309 year. Austin died from a deliberate overdose, 00:25:03.630 --> 00:25:05.849 a suicide, just one year after their marriage 00:25:05.849 --> 00:25:08.369 ended. They had one daughter, Tracy, whom she 00:25:08.369 --> 00:25:11.109 then had to raise alone. That level of darkness, 00:25:11.390 --> 00:25:14.269 self -destructive addiction, and then suicide, 00:25:14.470 --> 00:25:16.670 it must have been an immense burden, especially 00:25:16.670 --> 00:25:18.750 for a young woman trying to launch a career and 00:25:18.750 --> 00:25:22.029 raise a child. It's the complete antithesis of 00:25:22.029 --> 00:25:24.329 the glamorous, fun world she was writing about. 00:25:24.470 --> 00:25:27.299 Absolutely. Then came her second relationship, 00:25:27.559 --> 00:25:29.519 which was really the stable center of her life, 00:25:29.640 --> 00:25:32.359 with Oscar Luhrmann. They married in 1965 and 00:25:32.359 --> 00:25:36.000 were together for 26 years until he died. Luhrmann 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:38.519 was a big figure in his own right. He owned London's 00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:41.420 famous nightclubs Adlib and Tramp, which provided 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:43.519 her with continuous access to that high society 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:46.940 world she loved to observe. Luhrmann formally 00:25:46.940 --> 00:25:49.200 adopted Tracy and they had two more daughters 00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:51.900 together. Tiffany and Rory. So this was her period 00:25:51.900 --> 00:25:54.240 of greatest professional output and her greatest 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:57.380 domestic stability. But then tragedy struck again 00:25:57.380 --> 00:25:59.400 when Oscar Lerman died of prostate cancer in 00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:02.440 1992. Losing her longtime partner, the man who 00:26:02.440 --> 00:26:05.380 encouraged her to finish her first novel, just 00:26:05.380 --> 00:26:07.160 as she was peaking in Hollywood, must have been 00:26:07.160 --> 00:26:10.099 devastating. And just two years later, she found 00:26:10.099 --> 00:26:12.619 love again, becoming engaged to a Los Angeles 00:26:12.619 --> 00:26:15.579 business executive, Frank Calcanini, in 1994. 00:26:16.670 --> 00:26:19.390 Again, the relationship was cut short. They were 00:26:19.390 --> 00:26:21.869 engaged for four years before tragedy intervened 00:26:21.869 --> 00:26:24.490 a third time. Calcanini died from a brain tumor 00:26:24.490 --> 00:26:27.970 in 1998. Three profound, uncontrollable losses. 00:26:28.109 --> 00:26:30.829 A suicide, a long battle with cancer, and a brain 00:26:30.829 --> 00:26:34.009 tumor over three decades. It's just, it demands 00:26:34.009 --> 00:26:36.029 an incredible internal fortitude to carry that, 00:26:36.089 --> 00:26:38.230 particularly while you're maintaining a public 00:26:38.230 --> 00:26:41.069 facade that required constant energy and wit 00:26:41.069 --> 00:26:43.670 and sparkle. And here is where we see her innate 00:26:43.670 --> 00:26:46.970 resilience. and her incredible capacity for compartmentalization. 00:26:47.509 --> 00:26:49.990 When she reflected on these tragedies, she shared 00:26:49.990 --> 00:26:52.529 this remarkably positive outlook. She said she 00:26:52.529 --> 00:26:55.069 chose to deal with the grief by celebrating their 00:26:55.069 --> 00:26:57.049 lives as opposed to dwelling on their deaths. 00:26:57.230 --> 00:26:59.250 It speaks to an incredible inner strength that 00:26:59.250 --> 00:27:01.150 allowed her to just keep creating and maintain 00:27:01.150 --> 00:27:03.849 her positive, focused trajectory. She simply 00:27:03.849 --> 00:27:06.660 refused to let loss define her. And as she got 00:27:06.660 --> 00:27:08.880 into her later years, her independence became 00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:11.440 a source of great pride, a symbol of her self 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:13.819 -made power that matched her literary heroines. 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:16.900 In 2011, when somebody asked her about dating 00:27:16.900 --> 00:27:19.480 and marriage, she delivered this truly famous 00:27:19.480 --> 00:27:22.559 quote that just sums up her whole attitude. She 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:25.720 said, I have a man for every occasion. It's a 00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:27.730 statement of ultimate control, right? turning 00:27:27.730 --> 00:27:30.230 the tables on traditional power dynamics. But 00:27:30.230 --> 00:27:31.990 she followed it up with an even more insightful 00:27:31.990 --> 00:27:33.769 comment that connected back to her childhood. 00:27:33.970 --> 00:27:36.190 She said, When I was a kid growing up, I used 00:27:36.190 --> 00:27:38.589 to read my father's Playboy, and I'd see these 00:27:38.589 --> 00:27:41.109 guys, and they had fantastic apartments and cars. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:43.880 I have all of that now. Why would I want to hook 00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:46.579 myself up with one man when I've had two fantastic 00:27:46.579 --> 00:27:49.759 men in my life? That is so profound. She realized 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:52.460 she had acquired the trappings of masculine power 00:27:52.460 --> 00:27:54.960 that she'd admired as a kid. The financial independence, 00:27:55.339 --> 00:27:57.759 the fantastic apartments, the cars, the autonomy. 00:27:58.099 --> 00:28:00.890 And she didn't need a man to provide them. She 00:28:00.890 --> 00:28:03.730 became the provider of the lifestyle, the true 00:28:03.730 --> 00:28:06.390 lady boss in her own right, both in fiction and 00:28:06.390 --> 00:28:09.809 in life. She reached the status that Lucky Santangelo 00:28:09.809 --> 00:28:13.029 achieved. And this independence, coupled with 00:28:13.029 --> 00:28:15.750 her quiet focus, defined her later personal life. 00:28:15.950 --> 00:28:18.490 She held dual citizenship. And we get these great 00:28:18.490 --> 00:28:20.710 little authentic details about her personal habits 00:28:20.710 --> 00:28:23.369 that delightfully contrast with the Hollywood 00:28:23.369 --> 00:28:25.930 image she projected. Right. She was the chronicler 00:28:25.930 --> 00:28:28.289 of extreme cosmetic surgery in Hollywood, but 00:28:28.289 --> 00:28:31.920 she claimed to have only had Botox. And she hated 00:28:31.920 --> 00:28:35.039 it. She avoided elaborate salon routines, excessive 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:38.400 shopping, which is almost unbelievable for someone 00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:40.700 constantly in the public eye promoting glamour. 00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:43.359 And those quiet hobbies. Yeah. They are wonderfully 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:46.000 domestic. This international novelist whose books 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.180 are in 40 languages, whose characters are jetting 00:28:48.180 --> 00:28:51.500 between continents, she owned four TiVos. And 00:28:51.500 --> 00:28:53.660 focused on television and tweeting, the irony 00:28:53.660 --> 00:28:55.500 is perfect. The person writing about nonstop 00:28:55.500 --> 00:28:58.319 action and chaos was maybe seeking quiet predictability 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:00.859 in her own viewing habits. It grounds her. It 00:29:00.859 --> 00:29:03.000 pulls her back from the fictionalized glamour 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:05.619 and makes her feel like this disciplined, focused 00:29:05.619 --> 00:29:08.759 worker who prioritized her craft. And that dedication 00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:10.880 to her craft and her public service was eventually 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:15.019 recognized. In 2013, she received an OBE officer 00:29:15.019 --> 00:29:17.519 of the Order of the British Empire for services 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:20.869 to fiction and charity. A far cry. from the juvenile 00:29:20.869 --> 00:29:23.890 delinquent expelled from school at 15. That recognition 00:29:23.890 --> 00:29:26.529 acknowledges the full journey, from scandalous 00:29:26.529 --> 00:29:29.109 provocateur to established, respected cultural 00:29:29.109 --> 00:29:32.009 figure. But all of this context, the resilience, 00:29:32.230 --> 00:29:34.670 the private loss, the commitment to the job, 00:29:34.750 --> 00:29:37.289 it makes the final, hidden chapter of her life 00:29:37.289 --> 00:29:39.630 all the more astonishing. The level of control 00:29:39.630 --> 00:29:41.890 she exerted over her final years is perhaps the 00:29:41.890 --> 00:29:43.990 greatest testament to her character. The story 00:29:43.990 --> 00:29:46.289 of Jackie Collins' final years is one of almost 00:29:46.289 --> 00:29:49.390 unimaginable discipline and secrecy. It is perhaps 00:29:49.390 --> 00:29:51.529 the most shocking secret she ever kept, and it 00:29:51.529 --> 00:29:53.569 fundamentally reshapes how we view her entire 00:29:53.569 --> 00:29:56.329 life of public performance. She died in 2015 00:29:56.329 --> 00:29:58.990 from breast cancer at age 77, but the timeline 00:29:58.990 --> 00:30:01.430 of her illness, it's astounding. It requires 00:30:01.430 --> 00:30:04.569 us to reassess the last decade of her career 00:30:04.569 --> 00:30:06.890 completely. She was diagnosed with stage four 00:30:06.890 --> 00:30:09.289 breast cancer more than six years before her 00:30:09.289 --> 00:30:12.519 death, and she managed to keep her illness. almost 00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:15.299 entirely to herself during that entire period. 00:30:15.420 --> 00:30:19.099 Six years. Six years of writing bestsellers, 00:30:19.099 --> 00:30:21.220 promoting books, traveling the world, giving 00:30:21.220 --> 00:30:24.700 interviews, maintaining that glamorous, witty 00:30:24.700 --> 00:30:28.130 public persona. all while fighting a terminal 00:30:28.130 --> 00:30:30.430 illness that she refused to share, what extraordinary 00:30:30.430 --> 00:30:32.910 mental and emotional armor must that have required? 00:30:33.170 --> 00:30:35.529 It underscores the ultimate power of that intentional 00:30:35.529 --> 00:30:38.730 dual identity. She created the flamboyant public 00:30:38.730 --> 00:30:40.690 image to market her books and protect her private 00:30:40.690 --> 00:30:43.450 life, and in her final six years, that public 00:30:43.450 --> 00:30:45.430 image became a protective armor that shielded 00:30:45.430 --> 00:30:48.049 her from pity, from distraction, from unsolicited 00:30:48.049 --> 00:30:50.509 advice. She made sure that her legacy and her 00:30:50.509 --> 00:30:53.009 final work were not defined by her illness, but 00:30:53.009 --> 00:30:54.950 by the glamour and narrative control she was 00:30:54.950 --> 00:30:57.170 known for. She was determined to write her own 00:30:57.170 --> 00:30:59.690 final chapter. And the ultimate dramatic detail 00:30:59.690 --> 00:31:02.349 is the timing of her final disclosure. She only 00:31:02.349 --> 00:31:04.589 told her older sister, Joan Collins, with whom 00:31:04.589 --> 00:31:06.609 she shared so much history and career synergy, 00:31:06.869 --> 00:31:09.440 two weeks before she died. Think about the profound 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:12.539 implications of that secrecy for six years, especially 00:31:12.539 --> 00:31:15.440 from family members. It implies this profound 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:18.299 desire to live her final chapter exactly as she 00:31:18.299 --> 00:31:21.180 chose, on her own terms, without the emotional 00:31:21.180 --> 00:31:22.960 weight and distraction that a public illness 00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:25.759 would bring. It allowed her to maintain focus 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:28.720 and continue working until the absolute last 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:32.299 moment. That dedication to her craft superseded 00:31:32.299 --> 00:31:34.579 almost every other relationship in her life during 00:31:34.579 --> 00:31:39.369 that period. this dedication to the performance 00:31:39.369 --> 00:31:42.309 of Jackie Collins. She flew from Los Angeles 00:31:42.309 --> 00:31:45.210 to London to appear on the ITV chat show Loose 00:31:45.210 --> 00:31:47.950 Women just nine days before her death. Still 00:31:47.950 --> 00:31:51.029 on stage, still promoting her brand, still delivering 00:31:51.029 --> 00:31:53.130 the witty soundbites and the confident persona 00:31:53.130 --> 00:31:55.910 until the curtain absolutely had to fall. She 00:31:55.910 --> 00:31:58.049 didn't want her final image to be one of frailty. 00:31:58.170 --> 00:32:01.029 She wanted it to be one of unstoppable glamour 00:32:01.029 --> 00:32:03.359 and energy. So synthesizing all of this, the 00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:05.519 question remains, why does she remain so relevant 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:07.359 to the learner interested in quick, impactful 00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:09.460 knowledge beyond just the sheer sales figures? 00:32:09.700 --> 00:32:12.279 Well, firstly, the commercial mastery. She was 00:32:12.279 --> 00:32:15.059 a self -aware, strategic powerhouse. She never 00:32:15.059 --> 00:32:17.480 claimed to be a literary writer, yet she achieved 00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:20.240 this massive global commercial success, placing 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:22.559 her in the same peer group as authors like Sidney 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.710 Sheldon and Harold Robbins. Her success defined 00:32:25.710 --> 00:32:28.170 a generation of popular fiction and demonstrated 00:32:28.170 --> 00:32:30.289 that market appeal could completely override 00:32:30.289 --> 00:32:33.710 critical dismissal. Secondly, her impact demonstrated 00:32:33.710 --> 00:32:36.349 the commercial power of embracing scandal and 00:32:36.349 --> 00:32:38.230 writing about subjects that might be considered 00:32:38.230 --> 00:32:41.029 taboo at the time. She didn't shy away from sex, 00:32:41.289 --> 00:32:44.470 power, or infidelity. She dove headfirst, and 00:32:44.470 --> 00:32:47.630 the outrage only fueled her sales. She capitalized 00:32:47.630 --> 00:32:50.410 on controversy better than almost anyone. And 00:32:50.410 --> 00:32:53.440 finally, that narrative closure. Her final novel, 00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:56.119 The Santangelos, in 2015, wrapped up the entire 00:32:56.119 --> 00:32:58.839 Lucky Santangelo saga, providing millions of 00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:00.640 readers with a definitive sense of conclusion 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:03.519 before she herself passed away. She was meticulous 00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:05.440 in ensuring her fictional family's story was 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:07.819 complete. She was a cultural architect who understood 00:33:07.819 --> 00:33:10.539 the media machine intimately, from her father's 00:33:10.539 --> 00:33:12.819 agency clients to the Hollywood casting couch 00:33:12.819 --> 00:33:15.700 to producing her own miniseries, right down to 00:33:15.700 --> 00:33:18.500 using her social life as research. Her work was 00:33:18.500 --> 00:33:20.559 a reflection of the power, money, and ambition 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:23.059 she saw every day, filtered through the lens 00:33:23.059 --> 00:33:26.359 of strong, often vengeful female protagonists 00:33:26.359 --> 00:33:29.380 who, unlike herself, always had control over 00:33:29.380 --> 00:33:32.609 their destiny. And that contrast The fictional 00:33:32.609 --> 00:33:35.170 control versus the real -life chaos is what makes 00:33:35.170 --> 00:33:37.329 her story so compelling. Her heroines always 00:33:37.329 --> 00:33:39.529 win, always get revenge, always find stability. 00:33:40.410 --> 00:33:42.730 But the woman writing those narratives was repeatedly 00:33:42.730 --> 00:33:45.450 struck by devastating, uncontrollable personal 00:33:45.450 --> 00:33:47.609 loss. So what does this all mean? I think the 00:33:47.609 --> 00:33:49.730 most profound realization is that Jackie Collins 00:33:49.730 --> 00:33:52.490 managed to merge intense personal tragedy, losing 00:33:52.490 --> 00:33:54.829 three significant partners in such devastating 00:33:54.829 --> 00:33:57.869 ways, with professional spectacle. She used that 00:33:57.869 --> 00:34:00.009 flamboyant persona not just to sell books, but 00:34:00.009 --> 00:34:02.609 to shield a life marked by profound grief and 00:34:02.609 --> 00:34:04.970 extraordinary internal discipline. She proved 00:34:04.970 --> 00:34:08.010 that sometimes the most successful chronicler 00:34:08.010 --> 00:34:19.760 of Hollywood secrets and hidden It's an incredible 00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:22.059 act of emotional control, especially over those 00:34:22.059 --> 00:34:25.000 final six years. The final provocative thought 00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:26.599 we'll leave you with, based on her admission 00:34:26.599 --> 00:34:29.159 that she was an observer who used her life for 00:34:29.159 --> 00:34:32.519 material. Was the creation of Lucky Santangelo, 00:34:32.679 --> 00:34:34.719 the dangerously beautiful gangster's daughter 00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:37.679 who commanded massive empires? Was that her way 00:34:37.679 --> 00:34:40.320 of embodying the power and ultimate control she 00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:42.800 desperately sought in a life that was so often 00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:46.099 marked by unexpected, tragic loss? I mean, consider 00:34:46.099 --> 00:34:47.900 that the fictional Lucky always had the upper 00:34:47.900 --> 00:34:50.460 hand, always dictated terms, always secured her 00:34:50.460 --> 00:34:54.239 family. Meanwhile, the real Jackie had to endure 00:34:54.239 --> 00:34:56.760 the chaos and finality of death three times over. 00:34:57.480 --> 00:34:59.559 What are the other real -world secrets and personal 00:34:59.559 --> 00:35:01.920 struggles hiding behind the most dazzling, confident 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:05.099 public careers we admire today? It suggests that 00:35:05.099 --> 00:35:07.539 sometimes the greatest glamour is simply the 00:35:07.539 --> 00:35:10.300 ability to keep working and keep smiling, no 00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:12.559 matter the private battle. Something profound 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:15.820 to mull over until our next deep dive. Thanks 00:35:15.820 --> 00:35:16.340 for listening.