'You never get over losing your sister'

Dame Joan Collins on remembering her sister Jackie, her glittering career and having overwhelming energy at 90

- GEMMA CALVERT

It's almost eight years since the passing of novelist Jackie Collins, and for her elder sister Dame Joan Collins, the feelings of loss are still fresh.

'I miss our long, gossipy phone calls and letters. Losing your younger sister is not something you get over, it's something you learn to live with,' says the actor, adding that 19 September - the date Jackie lost her battle with breast cancer at 77 - will be a time for remembrance. Just like every day.

'I'll pay tribute to her same way I pay tribute to her daily, continues Joan. 'By remembering her fondly and staying close to her daughters and grandchildren.

Herself a mum of three she had Tara and Alexander 'Sacha' Newley [59 and 57 respectively] with her second husband, British actor and singer Anthony Newley, and Katyana, 51, with third husband, US businessman Ron Kass - Joan, who turned 90 in May, is effervescent and a positive thinker. So it's little surprise that she takes ageing in her stride.

As my dear friend Leslie Bricusse once said, "Each day is an opportunity to learn something, to achieve something and to enjoy something," she says, adding her three elder grandchildren, Miel Celeste Adam, 24, Weston Skeates, 20, and Ava Grace Newley, 19 her one-year-old granddaughter Deia Shanaya was born last May - are impressed by her joie de vivre.

'I think I rather overwhelm them with my energy. My eldest once said that I'd probably outlive her!