Jackie Collins' daughter also battling breast cancer

Author Jackie Collins. Photo / Getty Images

Jackie Collins' daughter has been given the all-clear after also battling breast cancer.

The 77-year-old author, who passed away from the disease last weekend after secretly being diagnosed in 2009, only decided to open up about her illness because she didn't want her youngest child Rory Lerman Green, 46, to feel isolated after she was also diagnosed in May.

Speaking just five days before her death, she explained: "[I] couldn't let Rory fight this battle alone - I've got to come out next her. And it might save other women's lives.

"She was diagnosed with stage one, and she did chemo. She just got the news yesterday that she's completely clear. She's a remarkable woman."

Whilst Jackie was concerned about Rory, she refused to feel sorry for herself.

She told PEOPLE magazine: "I certainly don't wake up in the morning and think, 'Oh, I have terminal cancer,' because I don't. I have a chronic disease. We're all going to go at some time. I want people to see me as an example of strength - and doing things my way.

"I want on my gravestone: 'She gave a great deal of people a great deal of pleasure.'"

Jackie kept her diagnosis a secret from everyone but Rory and her other daughters, Tracy, 54, and Tiffany, 48, until shortly before her death, including her sister Dame Joan Collins because she didn't want to "burden" her.

She explained: "I just felt she didn't need it in her life. She's very positive and very social, but I'm not sure how strong she is, so I didn't want to burden her.

"I think sympathy can weaken you. I don't live my life that way. I took control of the situation. I know it was difficult for my daughters not to be able to talk about it, and they wanted me to tell people, but I didn't want to burden them.

"Looking back, I'm not sorry about anything that I did. I did it my way, as Frank Sinatra would say."

- Bang! Showbiz