Phil Collins is opening up about just how close he came to death in 2024, revealing in a new interview that alcohol-related organ failure left him unconscious in intensive care while his five children were called to his bedside.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, the Genesis frontman said he was first hospitalized in Switzerland for alcohol addiction in November 2023. He was discharged before Christmas but returned to the hospital weeks later and was placed in intensive care, where doctors and his family faced difficult decisions about his care. "My kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up," Collins said. "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 spent seven months in the hospital recovering. "I was very lucky to have come out of that," he said. "Needless to say, I haven't had a drink since."
The revelation follows years of health battles for the 75-year-old musician, who previously spoke to JubileeCast readers about undergoing five knee surgeries and living with a live-in nurse. Collins had given up drinking in 2012 after an earlier health scare, but relapsed in 2023 before this latest crisis brought him to the edge.
Collins will be formally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in November, though health limitations mean he won't perform at the ceremony. For an artist who has spent decades in the public eye, his willingness to speak plainly about mortality and second chances is a reminder that gratitude for another day - and for the people who show up when it matters most - often becomes clearest in the moments we come closest to losing them.
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