Phil Collins reveals 2024 near-death alcohol crisis: 'My organs were seizing up, people came to say goodbye'
The Genesis legend spent seven months in a Swiss hospital, including intensive care, as his kidneys and pancreas failed and his family faced a decision on life support.
Phil Collins has disclosed the full extent of a life-threatening health crisis in 2024, triggered by a severe relapse into alcoholism. In an interview with The Sunday Times, the 75-year-old musician described a seven-month hospitalisation in Switzerland that began in late 2023 and saw him placed in intensive care as his organs began to shut down.
The hospitalisation
Collins was first admitted to a Swiss hospital in December 2023 for complications related to his alcohol addiction. After a brief discharge, he suffered a grave relapse and was readmitted to intensive care. His condition deteriorated rapidly. "My kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up," Collins told The Sunday Times. The situation became so critical that his manager summoned his five children (Joely, Simon, Lily, Nicholas and Matthew) to his bedside, believing he had only days to live.
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.
Life-support decision
Collins revealed that his family was confronted with an agonising choice as his body failed. "There were some decisions to be made about 'Do we keep Phil on life support?' kind of thing," he said. The musician was unconscious during the worst of the crisis and retains almost no memory of those days. His hospital stay ultimately lasted seven months. Collins described his survival as a matter of luck. "I was very lucky to have come out of that. Needless to say, I haven't had a drink since," he stated.
The addiction
Collins traced the severity of his drinking to a normalised daily routine. "I'd wake up and drink wine. That was what I wanted for breakfast, a glass of wine," he said. He admitted he was not truly aware he had a problem. His friend Eric Clapton once checked him into a month-long rehabilitation clinic in Antigua, but Collins relapsed before even returning home. He had previously stopped drinking in 2012 after being hospitalised for acute pancreatitis, but fell back into addiction at the end of 2023 after discontinuing Antabuse, a drug that induces illness when alcohol is consumed.
Lasting damage and family
Collins now lives with permanent physical damage. His pancreas is irreversibly harmed, his kidneys barely function, and he continues to deal with the consequences of a spinal injury from 2007 and multiple knee surgeries. He requires constant care, walks with crutches, and has a live-in nurse at his home in Switzerland. Despite the strain his addiction placed on his family, his children rallied around him after the crisis. Collins recalled spending Christmas 2024 together, with his daughter, actor Lily Collins, crying at his side and saying she never thought she would experience such a moment.
I'd love to be in love again. I would love a relationship. Kissing somebody, for example. You know, pretty basic stuff.
Looking ahead
Collins, who is single for the first time in his life, expressed a desire for companionship but acknowledged the difficulty, saying he is not a social person and rarely goes out. Professionally, he is considering a return to music in some form and plans to attend his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in November, though he will not perform. His health issues, including a 2016 diabetes diagnosis and spinal surgeries, had already forced him to perform seated during Genesis's 2021 reunion tour, his final outing with the band.
