Actress Joan Collins shrugged off criticism of her fifth marriage, to a man 32 years her junior, on Monday, quipping: “If he dies, he dies.” Having returned from a honeymoon that she described as “utter heaven”, Joan told the UK morning television broadcaster GMTV that she and Peruvian theatre designer Percy Gibson were “on the same wavelength”.
“He was a really good friend of mine for about ten months,” said a tanned and relaxed Joan. “One day that turned into a different situation.” The couple married at a star-studded London ceremony in February and spent their honey on the Malaysian island of Pangkor Laut.
“We had our own private island - our own beach, our own swimming pool, three people to wait on us hand and foot - and the most incredible water, completely unpolluted, completely blue and warm, and just utter heaven,” she said.
“I read five books, I wrote an article. He went on all kinds of jungle walks, then on kayaks and all those kinds of things that guys do, where I just said ‘have a nice time – I’m just reading my Dean Koontz.’”
The 68-year-old actress, who is currently promoting her latest novel Star Quality, even hinted that she and Percy, 36, might move to New York. “We both love New York,” she said, “He’s my Latin from Manhattan and so I think we might move over there for a while, but I’m the sort of person who doesn’t like to stay in one place a lot. Home will be where the work is.”