Dame Joan Collins had been married four times when she met Percy Gibson, and she had shut down the idea of walking down the aisle again.
But after the 90-year-old Hollywood icon and the company manager hit it off in 2000, Joan admitted the tragic events of 9/11 encouraged them to make their union legal, telling The Telegraph: "We decided that life was short and who knew what was going to happen."
After having already done the classic bridal white wedding dress, Joan ripped up the bridal rule book and stepped out in a show-stopping lilac gown with a figure-skimming mermaid silhouette, bateau V-neck and dramatic lace-trimmed sleeves.
The gown was designed by Nolan Miller, who happened to be the costumier for Dynasty – the show which made Joan a television legend – and her matching lilac shoes were by Manolo Blahnik. The multiple award-winning actress completed her look with a lilac headpiece, while Percy looked dapper in a Scottish kilt.
The couple tied the knot at Claridge's Hotel in London on 17 February 2002 in what she described as a "proper wedding" followed by a "proper marriage." Their ceremony was attended by a slew of fellow famous faces including Dame Shirley Bassey, Roger Moore and Rupert Everett.
Dame Joan marked their milestone anniversary back in 2022 sharing a gorgeous snap of the newlyweds cutting their four-tiered cake after saying 'I do'. She wrote on Instagram at the time: "20 years ago today #ahubby and I tied the knot and have been happily married ever since."
The star's series of hashtags even gave a funny insight into what makes their marriage long-lasting, as she shared: "#togetherness" and "#seperatebathrooms," followed by a laughing-face emoji.
Who is Joan Collins' husband, Percy Gibson?
© Jeff SpicerPercy is a theatre and film manager/producer and although they clearly have lots in common such as their involvement in showbiz, Joan marveled at his individuality. "Percy is the most honorable man I've ever met," she told PEOPLE shortly after they tied the knot. "He's so much his own person and extremely secure in his own skin."
However, the husband and wife are not shy in clashing. She wrote in the Daily Mail in 2018: "I'm not a Stepford wife and he's an alpha-male Peruvian-Scot, so sometimes we clash but it doesn't last long and we are quick to say sorry."
Before meeting her fifth husband, Joan was adamant that she would not remarry. "We hit it off immediately. He was funny, engaging, good-looking, and after the show I would socialize with him, my costar George Hamilton and my daughter Katy," she wrote in the Mail.
© GettyIn her 2011 memoir, The World According to Joan, she wrote: "I kissed a lot of frogs before I found my prince. For those women who are looking for a life partner, that old saying that men are like buses and 'if you wait long enough the right one will come along' is true for a reason."
The 58-year-old, who was born in Peru, found success working in the theatre and film industry. His previous credits in addition to stage productions include The Time of Their Lives, which starred his wife, Joan, and Banksy's Coming For Dinner, in which he played a version of himself. In 1998, Percy competed on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Opening up to HELLO! Magazine in 2015, Joan explained how happy she is as Percy's wife. "It is my fifth marriage, and my happiest, and last," she said. "Percy is wonderful, he's my soul mate. That doesn't mean we don't bicker but we are very understanding of each other."
© Getty ImagesPercy, meanwhile, added further in the same interview: "People are entitled to their opinion but it's good to prove them wrong. I've certainly never been happier and I hope that I make Joan happy because she definitely deserves that."
Who was Joan Collins previously married to?
Joan has been married four times prior to her happy union with Percy. Her first husband was Irish actor Maxwell Reed, whom she wed in 1952 when she was aged 19 but later divorced in 1956. In one of her books, Joan bravely wrote about how she was drugged and assaulted by Maxwell who died in 1974.
© Ron Case"And what he had given me was a drug. He had drugged my drink," she continued. "It was what is called in those days a Mickey Finn. Which I think today would be Rohypnol. It felt so horrible. That I... that I'd done this thing."
© BettmannIn 1963, she married her second husband, the actor and singer Anthony Newley, with whom she welcomed two children Tara and Alexander, but the marriage didn't last. They split in 1971 and Anthony later died in 1999.
© ExpressIn 1972, she married her third husband, Ron Krass, and the pair had a daughter together. Joan's fourth husband was singer Peter Holm. The couple married in Las Vegas in 1985 but divorced two years later.
© Tom WargackiLOOK: Joan Collins, 18, rocked dramatic wedding dress with first husband Maxwell Reed, 33
