Celebs that hid scary cancer diagnoses

Jackie Collins

The news of novelist Jackie Collins' cancer battle came from a statement given by her family in 2015. "It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one of a kind mother, Jackie Collins, who died of breast cancer today," the statement read in part (via People). According to the publication, the author told her three daughters about her stage 4 diagnosis, but ultimately decided to keep the health news private for six-and-a-half years. However, she finally opened up about it during her final interview with People just five days before she passed away.

"Looking back, I'm not sorry about anything I did," Collins said of the decision to keep her cancer battle secret. "I did it my way, as Frank Sinatra would say. I've written five books since the diagnosis, I've lived my life, I've [traveled] all over the world, I have not turned down book tours and no one has ever known until now when I feel as though I should come out with it."