How many children did Pauline Collins have? Oscar-nominated actress gave up child for adoption as struggling actress

Late actress Pauline Collins had to put her daughter, Louise, up for adoption when the baby was just six weeks old, calling it the "most awful thing ever to do." The actress went on to have three more children with actor John Alderton, whom she married in 1969.

In her memoir, Letter To Louise, released in 1992, Collins shared that she became pregnant at 22 while working as an actress in Ireland and had to give her daughter up for adoption.

"I had her adopted when she was six weeks old. It was the most awful thing ever to do," she said.

She wrote that at the time she thought her "reasons for doing so were good."

"They were partly familial because my parents were teachers at Catholic schools and partly because I had not a penny in the world and nothing to offer this child. It is extraordinary thinking about it now because it means so little now."

Collins further considered the stigma attached to having an illegitimate child, stating that at the time she remembered thinking if she were a boy, it "wasn’t so bad to be an illegitimate boy, it was somehow more romantic."

However, it was "tougher being an illegitimate girl because there would always people saying she will go the same way as her mother." For that reason, she decided on adoption.

Recalling her experience, Collins said:

"It was awful, it broke my heart. It was like having a piece of your heart ripped out. I think it floors you for the rest of your life."

Pauline went on to marry actor John Alderton in 1969, and together they welcomed three children, Nicholas, Kate, and Richard.

A significant turn in her life occurred when her daughter, Louise, whom she had with actor Tony Rohr, reunited with her at age 21.

"I knew we would be reunited one day. I didn’t know when and I knew it would have to be at her instigation. I felt absolutely delighted when I opened her letter. I wasn’t surprised as three days before I had this extraordinary dream about her in which she was speaking to me so I knew it was coming. My three children were delighted. My daughter Kate once said she wished she had a sister and two weeks later she had one," Collins wrote on her memoir.

Pauline Collins passed away at the age of 85

So sad to hear Pauline Collins has died. One of the greatest performances of all time in one of the best play then films of all time, as Shirley Valentine.
How often can you say a performance really changed people’s lives? This one did. Heartbreaking, hilarious and genuinely… pic.twitter.com/V2ZRhzHeHh

— Matthew Todd 🌏🔥 (@MrMatthewTodd) November 6, 2025

Pauline Collins, best known for her role in Shirley Valentine, passed away "peacefully" in a London care home at the age of 85, her family shared in a statement to the BBC.

According to the outlet, she had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease for several years.

"Pauline was so many things to so many people, playing a variety of roles in her life. A bright, sparky, witty presence on stage and screen. Her illustrious career saw her play politicians, mothers and queens. She will always be remembered as the iconic, strong-willed, vivacious and wise Shirley Valentine - a role that she made all her own. We were familiar with all those parts of her because her magic was contained in each one of them," her family said.

In a separate statement, her husband Alderton described Collins "a remarkable star."

"What I saw was not only her brilliant range of diverse characters but her magic of bringing out the best in all of the people she worked with. She wanted everyone to be special and she did this by never saying 'Look at me'. It's no wonder that she was voted the nation's sweetheart in the 1970s," he added.

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