Joan Collins Dated Elizabeth Taylor's Abusive First Husband Conrad 'Nicky' Hilton Jr.: 'It Was Quite Volatile'

09/30/2024 09:14 AM

The former 'Dynasty' star remembers her late friend and costar in the new BBC documentary series 'Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar'

Joan Collins spent much of her early Hollywood career being compared to Elizabeth Taylor. The two actresses, just a little more than a year apart in age, were both beautiful and talented London-born brunettes. They also had something else in common: Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr.

The hotel heir was Taylor's abusive first husband — the one she said once kicked her in the stomach, causing her to miscarry their child. Collins, 91, appears in episode 1 of the new three-part BBC documentary series Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar, whichtakes a close look at Taylor's relationship with Hilton.

Related: Elizabeth Taylor Regretted Marrying Eddie Fisher, Stealing Him from Debbie Reynolds: 'Friggin', Awful Mistake'

Asked if she herself ever dated Hilton, the former Dynasty star responds: "I did. He was nuts. It was quite volatile. Once we were lying in bed, and he took out this gun from the side table and shot it to the ceiling. Nicky Hilton had a problem with being too good-looking and too rich, and I don't think he got a lot of love from his father."

Taylor and Hilton married in 1950 when Taylor was only 18, but their wedded bliss didn't last long. "I was a bit of a punching bag," Taylor says in a voiceover in episode 1. "And that's when the reality of the world hit me. The reality that I was not an adult, and I had to really grow up fast." 

Early in the first episode, Collins says she looked up to Taylor, although they were "teenagers at the same time." She recalls: "My friends and I, we all wanted to look like her. We all did big eyebrows like her. But I know that she had a difficult time."

Despite being competing actresses in Hollywood, Collins and Taylor would eventually become friends, and they shared a number of famous pals, including actor George Hamilton, who appears in the new documentary series. They also costarred with Debbie Reynolds and Shirley MacLaine in the 2001 TV movie These Old Broads.

After divorcing Hilton in 1951, Taylor would go on to marry seven more times, including twice to esteemed British actor Richard Burton, whom she met on the set of the 1963 flop Cleopatra. Both of their marriages ended in divorce.

Collins, who famously dated Warren Beatty in the late 1950s before he became a major movie star, has been married to her fifth husband, Percy Gibson, since 2002.

Related: Joan Collins and Percy Gibson Make Their 21-Year Marriage Work with Scrabble — and Separate Bathrooms

Collins met Gibson, who is 32 years her junior, in 2000 when she and Hamilton were in San Francisco starring together in a play produced by Gibson. In 2023, while promoting her memoir Behind the Shoulder Pads: Tales I Tell My Friends, Collins told PEOPLE about their connection, which she said is made stronger by "separate bathrooms and the same bedroom."

She also talked about what made them click almost immediately. "We found we had a lot in common," she said. "We like the same things. We like doing the same things."

"We both adored the theater, and particularly musical theater. We love reading. We love playing cards or playing Scrabble. Neither of us are particularly outdoor people. You know, he doesn't go running out to football games. And we love going to the theater and films and we just got along."

In addition to Collins and Hamilton, Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar features interviews with Kim Kardashian, Sharon Stone, Taylor's granddaughter Naomi Wilding and Paris Jackson, Michael Jackson's daughter and Taylor's goddaughter.

Episodes 2 and 3 of Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar will air on BBC on Oct. 4 and Oct. 11, respectively.

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