She was diagnosed 6 1/2 years ago at stage 4 and kept it largely private. collins is best known for her scintillating tales of hollywood royalty and the super wealthy. her family says she was a trailblazer for women in fiction, something she talked about on cnn four years ago. women have to look after themselves. they have to have a career, they have to have a passion in life and they cannot live their lives just through a man. that s so important. my message is girls can do anything. i fell from school at 15 and i ve achieved all this by myself. i think that s a good message to women. she certainly had a lot of achievements. she has 30 books on the new york times best seller list. jackie collins was 77 years old. you re watching cnn newsroom. we ll be right back. welcome to castle bravestorm. it s full of cool stuff, like. my trusty bow. and free of stuff i don t like. we only eat chex cereal. no artificial flavors, and it s gluten-free.