Phil Collins says he nearly died in early 2024 during a struggle with alcohol addiction.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Collins said doctors first admitted him to a Swiss hospital in November 2023 because of his drinking. He was discharged before Christmas but readmitted a few weeks later and placed in intensive care, where he fell unconscious.
“My kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up,” Collins told the newspaper. “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 said his five children rushed to the hospital, believing their father was dying. “There were some decisions to be made about, ‘Do we keep Phil on life support?’ kind of thing,” he said.
The Genesis frontman said he spent seven months in the hospital recovering. “I was very lucky to have come out of that,” Collins said. “Needless to say, I haven’t had a drink since.”
Collins has spoken publicly about his struggles with alcohol, partly related to chronic back injuries. In his 2016 memoir, he wrote about drinking alone in Switzerland, staring out a skylight and feeling isolated.
Earlier this year, Collins discussed his health, saying he had endured “a difficult, frustrating few years” because of five knee surgeries. “I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should,” he said. “I’ve had challenges with my knee. Everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me.”
Collins had previously said he “spent months in hospital” because of his drinking, but the new interview is the first time he has described how close he came to dying.