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Phil Collins Reveals Alcoholism Landed Him on Life Support
- Curtis Newart
- 6 hours ago
- 2 min read
GRAMMY Award-winning performer Phil Collins, 75, says he was placed on life support in a Swiss hospital in April 2024 for near-fatal organ failure due to chronic drinking, The Sunday Times Magazine reported.
He stated that his heavy drinking, including wine with breakfast, began after he stopped using Antabuse, a drug that causes sickness if alcohol is consumed.
"I resented the fact that I couldn’t drink."
He had been on the medication since an earlier bout with alcoholism following his 2006 divorce from third wife, Orianne Cevey.
His manager of 50 years, Tony Smith, called Collins' five children—Lily, Joely, Simon, Nicholas, and Matthew—to his bedside at one point during the musician's seven-month hospital stay.
"[T]here were some decisions to be made about 'Do we keep Phil on life support?' kind of thing," Collins said during an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine.
"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 [had] 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."
Collins says he has been completely sober since recovery.
The former Genesis lead singer and drummer reminisced about the time he spent with his family in London last year to ring in 2026. He rented a floor of the luxury hotel Mandarin Oriental where they spent four days, "laughing and eating and talking and crying."
He recalls playing board games like Pictionary and Scattergories, saying, "It got very competitive."
When asked if he is a competitive person, he replied, "I’m not, actually. People would look at my career and automatically assume my ulterior motive was to be the biggest, the most popular, the most omnipresent possible. That was the furthest thing from my mind. Some people wanted to be a star in the spotlight, but that was never an ambition of mine."
Collins has won eight GRAMMY awards for his solo work, including Record of the Year for Another Day in Paradise, Album of the Year for No Jacket Required, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)".
He will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo performer on November 14th. He was first inducted in 2010 as a band member of Genesis.
The cover art of The Sunday Times Magazine featuring the interview with Collins recreates the cover of his 1981 debut solo album Face Value, updated by photographer Matt Holyoak. Collins reportedly wrote the font for the cover to match his original album art.
