Legendary drummer Phil Collins has been fighting a brutal battle with alcoholism.
The former Genesis star, 75, admitted to drinking wine with breakfast, causing health consequences so bad that he spent seven months in hospital in the fall of 2023.
He has spoken openly about his relationship with alcohol for some time, telling the BBC in 2016 that he had been warned by doctors that if he continued drinking “you’re going to die.”
That very nearly came to pass, he has revealed in a new interview with the Sunday Times, after he stopped taking the drug Antabuse, which makes you sick with severe headaches and nausea if you drink on it. During the interview, he admitted that the hospital visit was so touch-and-go that family came to his bedside to say goodbye.
“There were some decisions to be made about ‘Do we keep Phil on life support?’ kind of thing,” he said, revealing his manager had put calls out to family at the darkest point.
“My kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up. People were coming to say goodbye. But I don’t remember them coming, I didn’t have no idea this was going on. They were all worried that they wouldn’t see me again. It could all have gone so terribly wrong.”
Three years later, he is due to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has a permanently scarred pancreas and poor kidney function but still feels, “I was very lucky to have come out of that. Needless to say, I haven’t had a drink since.”
In his autobiography, Not Dead Yet, the five-time back-to-back number one album artist revealed the extent of his booze-fuelled run-ins.
“When I was drinking the calendar goes out the window,” he said, explaining the moment that he started drinking again. “Something happened and I stopped taking the Antabuse. I resented the fact that I couldn’t drink.”
He added, “But I’d have wine when I woke up. That was what I’d want for breakfast, a glass of wine. But I didn’t drink into the night, you know. So I wasn’t really aware of having a problem, to be honest.”
It’s far from the only health trouble Collins has had, revealing to the BBC in January that “I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should.”
“I’ve had challenges with my knee,” he added. “I had everything that could go wrong with me did go wrong with me. I got COVID in hospital. My kidneys started to back up. Everything seemed to sort of converge at the same time.”
Collins has been married and divorced three times. First to Andrea Bertorelli from 1975 to 1980. They have a son, Simon, and Collins adopted her daughter, Joely. Then to Jill Tavelman from 1984 to 1996. They have one daughter, actress Lily Collins. And finally, to Orianne Cevey from 1999 to 2008. They share two sons, Nicholas and Matthew.
