Photo: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty
Joan Collinshas been happily married to her fifth husband Percy Gibson for over two decades.
TheDynastystar met the producer, who is 32 years her junior, in 2000 while working on the playLove Letters, which Gibson produced.
“Percy is themost honorable manI’ve ever met,” she told PEOPLE in March 2002, shortly after the pair married in February.
Collins was previously married four times before meeting Gibson. “I kissed a lot of frogs before I found my prince,” she wrote in her 2011 memoirThe World According to Joan. “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.”
Before crossing paths with her future husband, the British actress had no intentions of marrying again — but meeting Gibson changed her mind. “He’s so much his own person,” she told PEOPLE. “Extremely secure in his own skin.”
So who is Joan Collins' husband" Here’s everything to know about Percy Gibson and his relationship with the actress.
He was born in Peru
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While not much is known about Gibson’s life prior to his relationship with the Hollywood icon, Collins has shared that her husband is half-Peruvian and half-Scottish.
In a 2018 essay she penned for theDaily Mail, she wrote of Gibson, “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.”
He is a theater and film producer
Gibson found success as a theater manager and film producer. In addition to his theater work, he producedThe Time of Their Lives, a 2017 comedy starring Collins. He also appeared as himself inBanksy’s Coming for Dinnerin 2009 and competed onWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?in 1998.
He met Collins in San Francisco in 2000
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The actress recalled their meeting in her 2018 essay for theDaily Mail.
“When Percy and I met 18 years ago, I was in a long-term relationship that was dragging along,” she wrote. “I had declared that I never wanted to marry again, and I kept to that promise until I met Percy … 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.”
After the play’s two-month tour, the pair met up back in N.Y.C. and saw the musicalKiss Me, Kate. The next year, he offered to help Collins type her fourth novel, and they soon began their romance, she told theDaily Mailin 2013.
He is Collins' fifth husband
Collins first marriedMaxwell Reed, an Irish actor 14 years her senior, on her 19th birthday. They divorced in 1956.
In 1963, she married British pop starAnthony Newley, with whom she had two children, daughter Tara and son Alexander. However, the two ultimately divorced in 1971. Shortly after, Collins marriedBeatlesrecord producerRon Kass, the father of her daughter Katyana, in 1972. They were married until 1983. She was then briefly married to Swedish singerPeter Holmfrom 1985 to 1987.
Of meeting Gibson, Collins told theBBC, “It was giddy, it was fantastic, and Percy and I fell madly in love. I’ve finally found my true soulmate and my husband forever.”
Prior to Collins, Gibson was married to Cynthia Bauer from 1989 to 2001.
He and Collins got married in London in 2002
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The hotel has since become a special spot for the couple: In 2022, the pair held a star-studded party at the hotel for both Collins'88th birthdayand their 20th wedding anniversary. Duchess of YorkSarah Ferguson,Elizabeth HurleyandSimon Cowellwere among the attendees.
He is 32 years younger than Collins
Though there is a significant age difference between the two, the actress said it’s never been an issue. “I was in my 60s and he was in his 30s, but the age difference never posed a problem,” Collins toldThe Guardianin 2013. “We talked it through and he didn’t want children. He adores my children and grandchildren. We’ve been married for 11 years, but when I look at him across a room, my heart still skips.”
Collins has kept a sense of humor about their age gap. In a 2020 appearance onGood Morning Britain, hostPiers Morganbegan to ask Collins if the couple would have been compatible when she was “25 or 30 years old,” but before he could finish the question, she retorted, “He wasn’t born!”
He is a stepfather to Collins' kids
Jordin Althaus/WireImage
Though he does not have any children of his own, Gibson is a stepfather to Collins' three children: Tara Arkle (née Newley), Alexander Newley and Katyana Kass.
He “saved the day” when their London apartment caught fire
In April 2019, Collins and Gibson’s London home caught fire.
“Percy had two of those fire extinguishers in the apartment so he rushed in to startputting the fire outand Joan called for the fire brigade to come,” a rep for the couple said at the time, adding that when authorities arrived, “Percy had kind of controlled most of the fire.”
The rep continued: “Percy really saved the day. He was the one who put the fire out and took control until the fire brigade arrived.”
In a series oftweetsfollowing the event, Collins thanked the emergency crews who responded to the fire, as well as her husband. “My hero Percy had already doused the flames consuming the entire wall with handheld extinguisher,” she added, before warning others not to “take this risk.”
Both Collins and Gibson were unhurt in the fire.
He and Collins split their time between various estates
Joan Collins Instagram
In 2020, after spending several months in lockdown in London due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the jet-setting couple escaped to their home in Provence, France, before heading to their yacht in St. Tropez, perVanity Fair. They also have homes in London and Beverly Hills, California, according to theNew York Times. In 2021, the actresssold one of her properties, a condo in N.Y.C.
He and Collins attended the 2024 Emmys together
Dame Joan Collins and Percy Gibson attend the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards on January 15, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.Frazer Harrison/Getty
Frazer Harrison/Getty
source: people.com
