There's far too much fuss about ageing... it's no reason to fall apart

Having glided effortlessly into her tenth decade, Joan Collins is as impossibly glamorous as ever. As she publishes her 19th book, the Hollywood veteran talks late-life adventures, enjoying her 'fifth time lucky' marriage to Percy and why, whisper it, they're binge-watching Dynasty for the first time

-  Jessica Boulton

AGE IS a dirty word in the Collins household. Not because Dame Joan's scared of her 90 years. Or because her beloved fifth husband is a few decades her junior. But because she's always believed the secret to ageing well is to...well, ignore it as well as you can.

"Oh! We don't mention that," she laughs, when asked about The Birthday. "I'm 60... plus however many years!"

It might explain why, having reached that birthday milestone in May, Dame Joan still has a work and social diary to rival Alexis Colby in her prime.

There's the new book - her 19th - Behind The Shoulder Pads, an upcoming tour of her new one-woman show of the same name, a new partnership with Marks & Spencer food, a passion project about Wallis Simpson (which may or may not go down well with her Royal friends), and, more imminently, a host of shopping to do before guests arrive for her regular poker game.

It's quite the full dance card for a screen icon who could once count James Dean, Gene Kelly and Marlon Brando as pals, and who has known Liza Minnelli since she was a babe in Judy Garland's arms.

"There's far too much fuss about ageing," explains Dame Joan. "You see people in their 90s and 100s doing amazing things - running and jumping on Instagram - there's no reason to fall apart. I do my stretching exercises each morning and I have a trainer on Zoom three times a week."

Her routine, she adds, includes "standing on one leg" for "almost a minute" an activity that would defeat many half her age. However, one might suggest the real reason for Dame Joan's youthful joie de vivre has less to do with her balancing skills and more to do with the stability and happiness she's been enjoying since meeting and marrying her "best friend" - hubby number five Percy Gibson, 58.