Phil Collins has revealed that he nearly died while he was hospitalized in 2024, after years of alcohol abuse.
The singer-drummer told the U.K.’s Sunday Times magazine that in April 2024, he was in the hospital, unconscious, when his manager summoned his five children to his bedside as it seemed he was on the verge of dying.
“Because there were some decisions to be made about ‘Do we keep Phil on life support?’ kind of thing,” he recalled. “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.”
Collins added that since he was discharged from the hospital, after having spent seven months there, he hasn’t had a drink.
Still, the U.K. Times reports, his pancreas is scarred and kidneys are barely functioning after years of alcoholism, which he wrote about in his 2016 autobiography.
Collins is also dealing with type 2 diabetes and nerve damage that has left him unable to hold drumsticks and has to use crutches after back and knee surgeries. He also has a 24/7 live-in nurse.
Collins opened up about his health issues in an interview with BBC Two’s Eras in January.
“It’s an ongoing thing,” he said. “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. 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, you know, everything that started that could, all seemed to converge at the same time. I had five operations on my knee now — I’ve got a knee that works and I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever.”
But he told the the U.K. Times that he’s grateful he made it through his time in the hospital, calling himself “very lucky.” At the end of last year, he spent four memorable days with his family.
He recalled a moment with his daughter, Emily in Paris star Lily Collins, in which she “was sitting beside me in tears, saying, ‘I never thought I’d get these moments.’ We had an incredible time. I can’t overemphasize how fantastic it was.”
Collins’ health issues have prevented him from performing live, and the “In the Air Tonight” musician declined the offer to perform at his upcoming solo induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But he told the BBC earlier this year that he would “contemplate” taking the stage again.
“I’m constantly saying to myself, I better go back down into my studio at home,” he said.