Phil Collins Reveals Children Were Called to Say Goodbye
Phil Collins reveals the toll of his worsening health; his children almost got to their father’s bedside the last time ever. The ‘You’ll Be in My Heart’ singer, currently 75, has been suffering for years. Recently, after his knee operation, Phil Collins ended up in the hospital for a considerable time.
He was hospitalized again in April 2024, in Switzerland, following his heavy alcohol consumption and was unconscious. His children were ready to let go in case he died, but Phil Collins eventually regained his health.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Phil Collins, a father of 5 who has 11 children in total (Joely, 52, Simon, 48; Lily, 36; Nicholas, 24; and Mathew, 20), told how the situation was “to the point where there were some decisions to be made about, ‘Do we keep Phil on life support?'” He further recalled how it was that “my kidneys were failing; my body was just shutting down.
Phil Collins Says He Doesn’t Remember Family’s Final Goodbye Fears
Nevertheless, he admitted that he does not “remember” his children showing up in his hospital room for a visit, let alone doing as much as they eventually did. The actor further said, “Actually, I wasn’t even aware that this was happening. I think the fear of not seeing me after I became worse was too strong for them to control it. ” There was no way of knowing what might have happened had I not recovered.”
Phil spoke to the media, saying that it was very fortunate for him that there was nothing wrong, but he was in for a couple of months following an alcohol-related incident. The story was released, at which time a medical officer mentioned that Phil had been brought to the hospital in November 2023 due to alcohol issues, stayed for three days before Christmas, when he was released but then was immediately readmitted for intensive care, and eventually had a stay of seven months at the hospital.
He further commented, “I was really lucky that I managed to leave the scene without getting hurt.”
Not that Phil hadn’t been hospitalized at the same time as him; had Phil not survived, they wouldn’t have made it. He ended by saying, “Phil was admitted along with me; we almost didn’t survive it.” So he was also very glad that Phil was admitted into the hospital.
He stressed that since the accident, his family members have been able to understand and support one another through the situation and have become closer than ever. “I don’t touch any alcohol whatsoever,” he revealed.
Phil Shares Emotional Moment With Daughter Lily
He said he remembers the day best through how his daughter Lily, who at the time was pregnant with and later became a mother to the daughter Tove, 17 months, was “beside me crying, saying that she had never really imagined getting to these moments.” He went on to say that they had “an awesome time,” and “I really don’t think I have emphasized enough how fantastically we have felt,” he concluded. Phil has for quite a while been enjoying the retirement from singing and performing on the drums, partly due to Phil Collins’ health condition that was deteriorating, and in 2022, when the last series of concerts was held, Phil had to do his performance sitting down, and on drums, he was replaced by his son, Nic.
Phil Collins admitted his health struggles have diminished his passion for making music
At the end of 2025, he revealed privately that he wasn’t well, that it was basically taking music out of his life. He is a diabetic person as well, in addition to suffering from the long-term consequences of a very bad spinal injury he sustained way back in 2007. “I imagine myself going downstairs, trying to be creative and see how far I’d go,” the artist who has received eight Grammy Awards shared with the magazine MOJO in February, though he added, “But I’m just not feeling it like before.”
He explained, “There was a time when I couldn’t even get out of bed, and I had to stay in the bathroom for a whole week with a nurse looking after me at the house.”
Collins said he was able to keep on for the most part even after retiring as a drummer because at the core is still Phil Collins, the drummer. But he also told MOJO that one of his last public appearances, a few weeks before this interview, was very emotional for him and that it is hard to forget how physically and mentally draining being a music performer can be.
In Phil Collins: Drummer First YouTube documentary, Collins said, “It still doesn’t quite sit properly yet… I have been a drummer for my life. It has come to a sudden stop, and not being able to do that is a blow. But I am quite alright physically.”
