Joan Collins was born in London, England in 1933, and was the eldest of three. If you're at all familiar with the history of World War II, you probably have an idea of the torment she endured as London was bombed by Germany between 1940 and 1941 in an attack campaign known as the Blitz. Collins was just a child when she became an evacuee. She told Hello! in 2020, "I was evacuated constantly. My sister Jackie and I were taken by my father to a variety of places — Chichester, Bognor, Brighton and Norfolk. We were all over the place."

The family even took to sleeping in the London Underground at times, adding, "We went to the one at Marble Arch the most. It was very convivial — people would have accordions and they'd sing." Eventually, the war ended and Victory in Europe (VE) Day was celebrated on May 8, 1945. "[W]e drove around London, which was full of people dancing and singing, kissing and hugging each other, climbing up lamp posts, waving Union Jacks and screaming with joy," Collins recalled.

If you were to speak to her about it today, though, you'd have thought her childhood trauma was merely a minor setback. She told The New York Times in 2022, "I have to say, every time I read about an actor today, they've all been abused or had terrible childhoods. I had a great childhood, other than the war."