Joan Collins candidly discusses 'utter hell' amid affair following first marriage
The Seven Thieves actress had a relationship with a married man after splitting from her first husband Maxwell Reed
Joan Collins, 90, is happily married to her fifth husband, Percy Gibson, 58, but she has opened up about her tumultuous past relationships which saw her have her one and only affair.
The Seven Thieves star first married Maxwell Reed in 1952, but they got divorced in 1956. Performer Anthony Newley was her second husband and father to her children Tara and Alexander, but their marriage lasted from 1963 to 1971.
In 1972, she married Ron Kass, with whom she welcomed a daughter called Katyana. After their split in 1983, she was married to Peter Holm for two years from 1985 to 1987.
It was after her first marriage that she told The Guardian she became a "serial monogamist," living with several partners in what she said was an "unconventional" setup at the time.
"I realised I was unconventional. I thought: there’s nothing wrong with this. I lived with Sydney Chaplin, then Arthur Loew Jr, then I had an affair with a married man – it was utter hell."
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She had a relationship with film director George Englund, who was married to Cloris Leachman, but has said she would "never do it again" after struggling to come to terms with the deceit. "He was very handsome, very urbane, incredibly witty. Fascinating. And eight years older than me," Joan said.
"It’s no secret any more. I went with Warren [Beatty] sort of to get over George."
Joan previously went into more detail about her "year of misery" hoping George would leave his wife for her.
"It was a year of total misery: of waiting for him to turn up for dinner and he didn’t; of hoping the phone would ring and it wouldn’t. I tried to leave him several times, but he was extremely charming and sophisticated and, at eight years my senior, much more worldly," she wrote for the MailOnline.
After recalling an incident in which Cloris visited her flat while George was there, yelling and banging on her door, she said she realised she wanted more. "After she left I told George: 'I can’t go on like this —I’m 25 now and I want a life.'
"'I’ll divorce her, I promise,' he said for the umpteenth time, but of course he didn’t and our affair dragged on."
In her latest interview with The Guardian, Joan took the opportunity to heap praise on her husband Percy. The Stud actress met the theatre manager and film producer in 2000 while working on a play in San Francisco.
Despite being adamant she would not remarry following her four divorces, Joan admitted she fell for Percy and they tied the knot on 17 February 2002 at Claridge's Hotel in London.
"Percy and I have been married for 21 years and it’s just marvellous," she sweetly said.
When asked to rank her husbands, he was the clear winner, with Joan stating: "Well, you know who the best is – I don’t have to go there."
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