Jackie Collins, the beloved best-selling novelist, has died of breast cancer at the age of 77.
Collins family said, "It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one-of-a-kind mother".
The British-born writer, died in Los Angeles after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer six and a half years ago. Collins chose to keep her sickness almost completely to herself, confiding primarily in her three daughters.
The writer stated in her latest interview that she had no regrets about the decision to keep her cancer journey while she embraced a very full life until her last days. Since her diagnosis, the writer has written five books, lived her life, travelled all over the world and hasn't turned down book tours.
Collins's rough novels of the wealthy and well-known sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries. In a profession across four decades, all 32 of her novels appeared in the New York Times bestseller list.
Jackie Collins, who was born in London, started writing as a teenager, making up racy stories for her school friends, according to a biography on her website.
Her first novel, The World is Full of Married Men, was published in 1968 and became a scandalous bestseller. It was forbidden in Australia and branded "disgusting" by romance writer Barbara Cartland.
In 1985, her novel Hollywood Wives was made into a mini-series by ABC, starring Anthony Hopkins and Candice Bergen.
Memorial services in both the United States and the United Kingdom will be held privately. The Collins family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Organization (in the U.S.) and Penny Brohn Cancer Care (in the U.K.).
"She was a true inspiration, a trailblazer for women in fiction and a creative force. She will live on through her characters but we already miss her beyond words," her family added
