The star said that she hopes she’ll live until she’s 100 with her healthy lifestyle, adding she’ll do a quick fix of ‘broccoli and boiled eggs’ if she needs to lose a few pounds.

In an interview with The Express, she said: ‘No knives. Had Botox once, years ago. Hated it. I’m an actress, I have to have expression.

‘You need half the food at 50 as you ate at 25. Half as much again at 75. I’m going to live to be 100, and I am telling you: look after your skin. Never leave the house without make-up.

‘Don’t diet, just eat less. Never drink tap water. If you need to drop a few pounds to fit into something, eat boiled eggs and broccoli for three days.’

While she has been captivating audiences for decades, Joan’s fitness and nutrition have been just as enduring.

‘My exercise regime has changed a lot over the years. I was very active as a young girl. From the time I was 16, I went to discotheques, dance halls, and nightclubs and danced the night away for hours and hours,’ she told Platinum magazine.

After that, she would do a lot of gym workouts and Pilates, but admitted as you get older you ‘cannot put that amount of stress on your body’.

In fact, she had to scale back her movement in recent years due to a trapped nerve, which led to her not being able to function for two months.

Joan made the most of the beautiful French sunsets as she relaxed at her villa in a colourful striped kaftan

Throughout her career, Joan has offered a glimpse at the regime that’s helped to maintain her famous looks, and she’s insisted it has nothing to do with Botox or any other plastic surgery

The trip also offered the Dynasty star some well-deserved time to unwind, as one snap showed her alongside her close pal Julian Clary

The snaps were shared by Joan’s stylist Rene Horsch as she enjoyed a lengthy summer away in St Tropez

However, with the help of physiotherapy, she has been able to fully recover.

Joan described physiotherapy as an essential part of her daily routine and staying active in later life in general.

She told My Weekly magazine: ‘I highly recommend working out with a physiotherapist for older men and women who want to stay fit.

‘Half an hour a day is mostly what I do and I’ve found that it gives me energy.’

Her philosophy of ‘little and often’ also applies to her practice of swimming regularly.

Staying so active has kept her limber and mobile, and she has revealed on numerous occasions that she is still able to do the splits.

‘I do the splits very easily,’ she said on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour.

When it comes to food, Joan tends to favour nutritious whole foods.

‘I eat an avocado every day and have facials in New York with a girl called Tracie Martyn. She works a lot of oxygen into my skin,’ she told The Express.

Avocados are highly nutritious and offer healthy monounsaturated fats, fibre and essential nutrients.

They improve heart health by lowering LDL cholesterol, support digestive health and promote satiety for weight management.

Joan has often said that she stays away from junk food and credits her youthful appearance to a balanced diet – but without denying herself life’s pleasures, including a glass of fizz or pudding if she wants it.

Speaking previously to the Daily Mail, she has said: ‘The quality of what you eat is as important as the quality of the products you use.

‘I try to eat a balanced diet. I believe eating avocados is very beneficial and I believe in taking vitamin supplements – I take Vitamin C, E and Omega oils.’

Maintaining a healthy approach to treats and working with a nutritionist to the stars, Gabriela Peacock, has worked wonders in her later life – but Joan admits she may just have been served up some great genes.

She told OK! magazine: ‘I don’t stuff myself with food. I only eat half of what’s on my plate, and I won’t deprive myself.

‘I’ll drink wine, have dessert, eat toast, and have coffee with sugar,’ Joan said. ‘I think I’m just lucky.’

Plastic surgery may have been all the rage at the height of Joan’s Dynasty fame, but the star has always been resolute about dodging the surgeon’s knife.

The Golden Globe winner wrote in The Telegraph: ‘A lot of people think I’ve had a ton of work done. To set the record straight: I have not.

‘I haven’t had Botox, I haven’t had any tweakments, I haven’t had fat injections, and honestly, when I look at the women who have – certainly a lot of women in their 40s – it appalls me.’

Speaking to The Sun in 2017, Joan pushed back at those who believe she has enjoyed the nips and tucks of a surgeon’s knife.

She said: ‘If people want to think I’ve had surgery, then… You can tell [I haven’t] because I have lines and jowls. When I see women around my age, I think, ‘Oh, really? My gosh, I look quite a bit…, I think I look pretty good!’

Plastic surgery may have been all the rage at the height of Joan’s Dynasty fame – but the star has always been resolute about dodging the surgeon’s knife (pictured in 1978)

She continued: ‘I also always, always sleep on my back. I’ve trained myself to, because I used to sleep on my side, scrunched up into the pillow, and then I was told not to because it gives you ”scrunchy face.” Which is absolutely true.’

One of Joan’s most important anti-ageing tips is to never leave home without SPF on, and to always keep her face out of the sun.

She told You Magazine in 2014: ‘I have always worn sun protection and have kept my face away from harmful rays since I was 20.

‘You should see me when I wake up in the morning: my face is so white, it’s like a sheet.’

She added: ‘I’ve saved my face by always wearing a hat in the sun. The rest of me is not as good as it should be, because I do go in the sun. I love getting a tan. It means I can wear off-the-shoulder things.’

And there’s discipline when it comes to her skincare routine.

She previously told The Mirror: ‘I don’t go to bed without taking off my makeup and putting on night cream. My mother had me and sister Jackie doing that when we were 14.’

The star revealed her bedtime skincare routine involves wiping off her makeup with a Nivea cleanser, before applying a night cream by Charlotte Tilbury.

Joan also shared her secret routine before attending red carpet events: ‘Before all big events and post-flights, I get a bowl of ice and cotton pads, cool the pads and place them on my eyes, then lie down for five minutes.

‘It reduces puffiness and refreshes the eyes.’

It is one of the simple tricks the star learnt from Allan ‘Whitey’ Snyder, the famous makeup artist who used to get Marilyn Monroe ready for filming.