Jackie Collins: Still shocking after all these years

Shelby Cheney. Lola Sanchez. Cat Harrison. Linc Blackwood. Merrill Zandack. Yes, it's the new Jackie Collins novel. Hollywood Divorces is the fourth "Hollywood" novel from the author the late film director Louis Malle described as a "raunchy moralist".

"I think that phrase is great, because it really does sum up what I do. I write very raunchy books, and always have; they still shock people, although how that's still possible I don't know. I watch 'Sex and the City' and think, 'Wait a minute--people are shocked by my books?'

"But I am a moralist: I think if you're single you can do whatever you want, but if you're married, it's my firm belief that you should be faithful--or you'll be punished.

"Reviewers sometimes say that there's a lot of sex in my books. But there isn't. I may describe things up to a point, but then I want readers' imaginations to take over. I get the feeling that a lot of male writers, particularly, feel that they have to spell everything out. I find it much more erotic not to.

"In Hollywood Divorces, for instance, there's a scene where Lola and her boyfriend role play. I don't say a lot about what they do, but your imagination can do the rest.

"Lola is based on several women I know in Hollywood. A lot of people have asked, 'Is it Salma Hayek? Is it Jennifer Lopez?' I tell them, 'No, but perhaps I've taken a little essence from them and mixed it all up.'

"I love writing about strong women. I think I do it in reaction to all the stories I read as a child about women who spent time only in the bedroom or the kitchen. I find it very interesting that now we're seeing a lot of roles for strong women in films and on television. But in too many novels they're still worrying about, 'Will he marry me, won't he marry me?' I think that's a man's fantasy of what women want.

"I loved writing about Cat--the 19-year-old wild child who becomes a cult film director. She finds her husband cheating on her, but she doesn't fall to pieces; she goes on with her life, and you know she's going to be a survivor.

"Shelby is my English character. She comes from a rather quaint, unsophisticated family, and she's thrown into the very sophisticated, Hollywood world. She's married to a superstar, and she's genuinely in love with him--she wants to save him from himself, but as we all know there are people who cannot be saved from themselves.

"I don't call my novels romances, and they're certainly not sex and shopping. One of the things I like about Hollywood Divorces is that it exposes how famous people have to live their lives, with the media on top of them the entire time.

"A star in Hollywood cannot do anything without being photographed. They seem so glamorous and in control; but really they've got a PR agent telling them, 'Talk to this man, this is what you say, don't talk about your marriage, don't talk about your divorce.' They're getting instructions all the time--even Tom Cruise."

* Jackie Collins Hollywood Divorces (Simon&Schuster, 1st September, £17.99, 074320929X)