Jackie Collins’ daughter Rory Green believes that her mother was determined to live long enough to know that she had been given the all-clear from breast cancer.
The English romance novelist passed away in September 2015 at the age of 77 from the same disease her youngest child Rory had been battling.
Jackie – the sister of actress Joan Collins – had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer six years earlier, but Rory’s own tumour was operable and she is certain her mum clung on to life until Rory had been told she was cancer-free.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper, Rory said: "Mum waited to know I was in the clear before dying. It was as though she couldn’t really let go until she’d had that confirmed."
One of Jackie’s dying wishes was that her beloved possessions were auctioned off for charity.
Most of the contents of her Beverly Hills house – which fetched $21 million last year – are being sold at an auction which begins at Bonham’s in Los Angeles on Tuesday (16.05.17), and include her extensive jewellery collection, the highlight being a pear-shaped diamond and platinum ring, statues, artworks and her champagne coloured 2002 Jaguar XKR car.
Rory, 47, insists she and her two sisters, Tiffany, 49, and Tracy, 55, are not saddened to see their mother’s treasured possessions sold.
Rory – who, along with Tiffany, are Jackie’s offspring with her second husband Oscar Lerman, while Tracy’s father is the writer’s late first spouse Wallace Austin – explained: "Actually, it’s not heartbreaking for us. We rather love the idea of her energy being dispersed. And mum did request the action herself."
And Rory has revealed that her mother – who was an avid collector of jewelry – wanted all the money raised to help empower women.
Rory said: "She wanted all these things that she loved to have a new lease of life elsewhere, and she wanted the proceeds to go towards charities and institutions supporting the empowerment of young women in the arts. Because she knew how hard it was to be a woman in the Fifties and Sixties, trying to make a name for herself in a man’s world, and she made sure we all grew up with the mantra ‘girls can do anything.’"
Jackie published 32 best-selling novels in her lifetime, with more than 500 million copies sold in 40 countries and would always buy herself a gift in celebration of completing a novel.
Rory said: "She would always celebrate the completion of a book by buying herself a present. And she had a real affinity with big cats, which she saw as a symbol of power."
And another of her collecting passions was shells and matchbox cards.
Rory added: "Also, since our mother never did anything in small measures, there was so much of everything. Goodness, the sheer scale of it all! She used to collect shells and matchbox cards, and then when we were little she would fill our rooms with lovely little Snoopy ornaments."
Late Jackie Collins held on for sick daughter
