Phil Collins Reveals He’s Under 24-Hour Care

Just days away from his 75th birthday, rock legend Phil Collins has opened up about his recent health struggles.

In a new interview on the BBC’s Eras podcast ahead of his birthday on January 30, the former Genesis drummer and frontman told Zoe Ball that he’s under 24-hour care thanks to complications from a spinal injury all the way back in 2007.

He said the injury had damaged his vertebrae in the upper neck area and caused increasing nerve damage and pain, noting that he could “barely hold a drumstick.” When asked if he’d given up on playing music again, Collins said it was “an ongoing thing.”

“You know, I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do. I’ve had challenges with my knee… I had everything that could go wrong with me, did go wrong with me.”

The singer has had five surgeries on his knee and now has one “that works,” albeit he is still unable to get around without crutches. He was “frustrated” by not being able to play the drums while Genesis underwent their farewell tour in 2022. His son, Nic, stepped up as percussionist while Collins sang.

“I’m kind of physically challenged a bit which is very frustrating because I’d love to be playing up there with my son,” Collins said in a 2022 interview. “I think, yeah, I think just generally for me, I don’t know if I want to go out on the road anymore.”

In the most recent interview, he said he furthered his health problems by “drinking too much” after his third divorce. He noted that he recently celebrated two years of sobriety.

“I was never drunk, although I fell over a couple of times,” he wrote. “But it is just one of those things that happened and it all caught up with me, and I spent months in hospital.”

Collins has five children: his son Nic, the Genesis drummer, fellow musician Simon, football player Mathew, actor Joely, and the actress and Emily in Paris star Lily Collins.