Having no plan to retire despite her advancing age, the 'Dynasty' actress thinks it's unfair that male stars, unlike women, never face scrutiny for being 'ambitious.'
- November 21, 2023
AceShowbiz - Dame Joan Collins doesn't want to retire despite turning 90 in May. The actress and writer, whose career has run for 70 years, added she feels everyone she knows seems to have aged except her and she refuses to be "defined" by getting older.
"Why should I be defined by a number? I want to work and I like to work," she tells documentarian Louis Theroux, 53, in the latest installment of his BBC Two "Louis Theroux Interviews" series, which airs on Tuesday, November 21 night.
Joan admitted, "I am slowing down. Compared to what I was doing in '[=Dynasty]', I'm a snail." However, she declared, "I'll keep working if I'm asked."
Louis' show sees him welcomed into Joan's secluded villa near St Tropez, where they discuss the ups and downs of her career. She adds on the show, "Everybody's gotten older except me."
Joan also shows Louis her "wall of shame" shrine to herself in her house - which includes around 2,000 of her magazine covers - and jokes about it, "The ego has landed."
Joan, one of the last surviving stars from the 1950s' Golden Age of Hollywood cinema, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983 and shot to global fame playing scheming ex-wife Alexis Colby in "Dynasty".
She tells Louis about her rise to stardom, "People always talk to women about ambition as if it's a dirty word. I've never ever seen a man accused of being ambitious. I wanted to be successful, I wanted to make a living and in a world that I enjoy."
Joan, who has been married to Percy Gibson for 22 years, also speaks about the disasters of her previous four marriages. She says when asked what advice she would give her younger self, "Don't let the b******* get you down."
