The British singer, 75, who has been open about his addiction to alcohol in the past<\/a>, started drinking again after several years of sobriety \u2013 resulting in him being rushed to a Swiss hospital in November 2023. <\/p>\n Speaking about his hospital stay in a new interview, Collins revealed that he spent seven months in intensive care and was very close to death. The singer\u2019s five children \u2013 Joely, 53, Simon, 49, Lily, 37, Nicholas, 25, and Matthew, 18 \u2013 were all summoned to his bedside as he lay unconscious. <\/p>\n \u201cBecause there were some decisions to be made about \u2018Do we keep Phil on life support?\u2019 kind of thing,\u201d he told The Sunday Times<\/a>. \u201cMy kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up. People were coming to say goodbye. <\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t remember them coming, I didn\u2019t have no idea this was going on. They were all worried that they wouldn\u2019t see me again. It could all have gone so terribly wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins admitted that he was \u201cvery lucky\u201d to make it out of intensive care and hasn\u2019t touched alcohol since \u2013 however, he has been left with long-term health issues as a result. <\/p>\n He told the publication that his pancreas is permanently scarred and his kidneys \u201cbarely function\u201d, but he also suffers with other health problems following a serious spinal injury in 2007. He now walks on crutches and is cared for by a live-in nurse 24 hours, while also managing his type 2 diabetes. <\/p>\n In January, Collins revealed that he had undergone multiple operations on his knee<\/a>, telling Zoe Ball in an interview: \u201cI had everything that could go wrong with me, go wrong with me.\u201d <\/p>\n Collins previously spoke about his alcoholism while promoting his 2016 memoir I\u2019m Not Dead Yet, revealing that he started drinking heavily after his third marriage broke down and he retired from music. \u201cYou start drinking, and then you start drinking too much. Then it physically hurts you. I came very close to dying at that point,\u201d he told The New York Times at the time. <\/p>\n The \u201cIn the Air Tonight\u201d singer would open a bottle of wine at 11am in the morning at the height of his addiction, having split from his third wife, Orianne Cevey, in 2006 after seven years of marriage and two sons, Nicholas and Mathew. He was previously married to Andrea Bertorelli for five years until 1980, adopting her daughter Joely and welcoming son Simon with her in that time. He then wed Jill Tavelman, who is the mother of his daughter Lily, in 1986 before the pair divorced in 1996. <\/p>\n In the new interview, Collins also revealed that he spent last New Year with his family in London, while daughter Lily \u2013 who is best known for starring in Netflix\u2019s Emily in Paris \u2013 sat beside him \u201cin tears\u201d saying, \u201cI never thought I\u2019d get these moments\u201d. <\/p>\n The pair\u2019s relationship has come a long way in the last 10 years, with the Netflix star admitting in an open letter in 2017 that a \u201cterrible disconnect\u201d<\/a> had developed between them since her parents\u2019 divorce. Phil Collins has now said that he was \u201cquite shocked and a little bit sad\u201d by his daughter\u2019s open letter, but that they\u2019ve patched things up.<\/p>\n \u201cBut she\u2019s told me why now, and she takes it all back. She wished she\u2019d never done it,\u201d he said. \u201cI have a wonderful relationship with Lily now. So everything has a happy ending, most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame <\/a>in November, marking his second time being honoured after making it in as a member of rock band Genesis in 2010. <\/p>\n![\"Phil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2025-05-19-at-11-50-42.png\")
Phil Collins with his son, Mathew Collins (Instagram\/Mathew Collins)<\/p>\n![\"Phil](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/141516975...jpeg\")
Phil Collins with his daughter, actor Lily Collins, in 2012 (Getty)<\/p>\n