Jacqueline Susann worldwide gross of just $3 million on a $44 million budget. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Jackie Susann deserved better." Midler was nominated for a Razzie award as Worst Actress for her performance. In November 2001, "Paper Doll", a play by Mark Hampton and Barbara Zitwer, premiered at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, with Marlo Thomas as Susann and F. Murray Abraham as Mansfield. Reviews were mixed, but the production was a hit with audiences. Fran Drescher was reportedly cast for the Broadway production, but that production was cancelled. Susann was also the subject of a one-woman play by Paul Minx
Jacqueline Susann Sweet Princess", which Susann did not live to write. Josephine died on January 6, 1970, just days before her sixteenth birthday. In 1962, at the age of 44, Susann was diagnosed with breast cancer, and underwent a radical mastectomy. During her recuperation, she made a pact with God: if she were given ten more years of life, she would prove herself to be the best-selling writer in the world. With her diagnosis, Susann felt an urgency to make money as quickly as possible, so as to ensure that her son would be properly cared for the rest of his life.