Phil Collins: 'My children were summoned to the bedside to say goodbye'
The 75-year-old singer opened up about his near-death experience due to alcohol addiction and his current health struggles, reflecting on life, family, and the search for connection.
Phil Collins has revealed that two years ago he was close to death due to his alcohol addiction, and his children were summoned to his bedside to say goodbye. The 75-year-old singer shared in an interview that his condition had deteriorated to the point where the question arose of whether to keep him on life support.
"There were some decisions that had to be made, like 'do we keep him on life support machines'," Collins said. "My kidneys failed, my organs just stopped functioning. People came to say goodbye, but I don't remember them coming, I had no idea it was happening. Everyone was worried they wouldn't see me again. It could have ended terribly."
Collins has previously spoken openly about his alcohol addiction. In his 2016 memoir, 'Not dead yet', he wrote that he became an alcoholic at age 55: "I went through the turbulent sixties, the psychedelic seventies, the imperial eighties, the busy nineties. I was retired, happy — and then I fell. Because suddenly I had too much time on my hands."
The singer explained that he filled a void with alcohol: "The huge hole, that space, I had to fill it somehow. I filled it with alcohol. And it almost killed me."
In his latest interview, he shared that he now has a nurse living with him following surgeries on his spine and knee, and that he can only walk with crutches. He is also managing type 2 diabetes.
Collins lives in Switzerland, in an estate near Lake Geneva. Reflecting on his life as a bachelor, he expressed a desire for companionship: "I would love to fall in love again. I would like a relationship. To kiss someone, for example. You know, pretty basic things." He then added, however, that it is probably too late for that.
Collins is a father of five: Julie, 53, Simon, 49, Lily, 37, Nic, 25, and Matthew, 21. His daughter Lily, star of the Netflix series 'Emily in Paris', shared a heartfelt tribute on his 75th birthday earlier this year:
"Yesterday Dad celebrated 75, and I feel so grateful that we celebrated together. For everything you have achieved, for all the joy you have brought to so many people all over the world for all these years, for all the lessons we have learned, all the memories we have shared and all the new ones that are yet to come, thank you. I feel so lucky that I hugged you, laughed with you and reminisced with you on such a significant day. Proud is too small a word. Love you to the moon and back."
