Life in Pictures: Jackie Collins

“I’m going to sound very Shirley MacLaine when I say this, but I feel that in another life, I could have been a leopard or a black panther. I just feel it. I’m a Buddhist—well, I call myself a hovering Buddhist, because I don’t actually work at it, but I believe in it.”

10:20 a.m. Even if I’m not going to be going out and I’m just writing, I’ll put a little makeup on—otherwise it’s too hideous to face the world. We can create our own faces, whatever mood we’re in.

10:45 a.m. I was signing my new Lucky Santangelo cookbook, as presents for my lunch club. I write a book a year. Longhand. I happen to like my handwriting. I like that what you see is what you get.

11:00 a.m. That’s Russell, my Lab. I have a Pinterest board on puppies. I wouldn’t want to be one of those women who have a little dog, though. They carry them around in their purse. It’s like, Get a fucking life!

11:15 a.m. My brother Bill was visiting from London. When I built my house, I had seen this painting of Hockney’s, A Bigger Splash, and I said to my builder, Ardie, “I want the house to be around the pool.”

12:45 p.m. The Beverly Hills Rite Aid used to be quite tacky, but they recently redid it. You can spend $100 at a department store and have nothing. Here, you spend $50 and have a basket full of fabulous stuff!

1:05 p.m. My regular lunch club met at Bouchon. The gentleman is Arnold Kopelson, the Oscar-winning producer of Platoon. Then Laura Lizer, my business manager, and Joanna Poitier, Sidney’s wife.

3:00 p.m. I thought, I’ve had a busy day, and I need a new camera. I discovered there was a new model of my camera, the Canon G15, and I said, I’m gonna get it. With cell-phone cameras, people look hideous.

3:45 p.m. We stopped at Pavilions, because I needed to get some flowers. I wish I had more time to go shopping. There’s a shop called American Apparel which has all these old Hawaiian shirts, which I find interesting.

4:00 p.m. Oh. My. God. Right next door was a beauty-supply shop, having some kind of event. The next thing I know I’m standing there with a naked guy holding a glass of Champagne. Perfect way to end the afternoon.

4:20 p.m. My kitchen is huge! At Christmas I cook for 40 people. You’ve got to cook two turkeys, three different kinds of potatoes, six vegetables. And I thought, You know, if I’m building this house, I can have four ovens.

5:10 p.m. I see the buses that come by. “Oooh, Jackie Collins lives there!” If I’m made up for a TV show I might say hello. If not, I kind of slink into my house.