Phil Collins reveals daughter Lily Collins burst into tears over fears he would die from alcoholism and says she regrets writing 'hurtful' open letter 'forgiving him' for his shortcomings

Phil Collins has revealed his daughter Lily Collins burst into tears over fears he would die from alcoholism.The singer, 75, almost drank himself to death two years ago and ended up on life support in a Swiss hospital, with his family travelling over to make some 'tough decisions'. Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Friday, Phil talked about his alcohol battle and how Lily now regrets writing a 'hurtful' open letter 'forgiving him' for his shortcomings. Phil said his hospital stay in April 2024 was 'sobering.' He said: 'I went in there for pancreatitis a couple of times because of drinking. But up until that point in my life, I had never been in hospital and suddenly I was living in hospital. And it was literally sobering.'I spent all that time in hospital and I can't really remember too much about it. I remember certain things. I mean, Tony Smith, my manager, he gathered my five kids in Switzerland to go over the details with them, because it was not looking good at one point'I was on a dialysis machine and, sort of things were just breaking down, and the decision was whether I should be kept on a dialysis machine. Phil Collins has revealed his daughter Lily Collins burst into tears over fears he would die from alcoholism Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Friday, Phil talked about his alcohol battle and how Lily now regrets writing a 'hurtful' open letter'forgiving him' for his shortcomings'And of course, the kids now treat every visit as a bonus.' The Genesis star is father to Joely, 53, daughter of his first wife Andrea Bertorelli who he adopted, Simon, 50, with Andrea, Lily, 37, with his second wife Jill Tavelman), and Nic, 25, and Mathew, 21, with his third wife Orianne Cevey. Phil said he would wake up in the morning and want a glass of wine but would never drink after 6pm at night.He said: 'This drinking thing, I would like to sort of make sure people understand what was going [on] with me. 'Some people get up, and or some people just drink when they come home from work, and they drink and they stay up and they drink and they get legless and fall over and they're sick, it's like the usual kind of caricature of a drunk. I wasn't like that. I never drank when I was working because I can't sing. I have to be focused.' Phil said when he retired he would have alcohol and used it to help mask 'other problems' emerging such as his marriage to third wife Orianne breaking down in 2020. He said: 'When retired, I kind of thought, "Well, I'm going to do all the things that I haven't been able to do. If I want to watch the cricket on a day, I'm going to watch it. If I want to have a glass of wine, I'm going to have a glass of wine".'But of course, then you start doing it a bit earlier. I never drank after 6 ‘o’ clock at night, so I wasn't what I would call a drunk. Phil said his Lily burst into tears last Christmas over fears he would die from alcoholism two years ago as she said : "I never thought that my child would get to know her grandfather"'I was living on my own. I mean, when I was still married, I was starting to drink and that was because of - there were other problems that became apparent as time went on, nothing to do with drinking - but I was starting to drink.'But I can see people sort of wondering and say, "Well, when I saw him at such and such saying, I wonder if he was drunk?" But I never drank when I was working. Right? Because I couldn't, I couldn't do it.'Phil said Lily burst into tears last Christmas over fears he would die from alcoholism two years ago. She had become a mother to a baby girl named Tove Jane McDowell, with husband Charlie McDowell in January last year. He said: 'It was moving, that was obvious. I mean, it was wonderful to hear their stories of how they feared they wouldn't see me again. And Lily, for example, she just burst into tears, because she now has a child and she said, "I never thought that my child would get to know her grandfather"… It was very touching, very moving.'Elsewhere in the interview, Phil spoke about Lily's heartbreaking open letter and revealed he could only read it once. The Emily In Paris actress published the letter in her debut book Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me back in 2017, where she reassured him he is ‘forgiven’ for ‘not being the dad I expected'.She wrote at the time: 'I forgive you for not always being there when I needed and for not being the dad I expected. ‘I forgive the mistakes you made. And although it may seem like it’s too late, it’s not. There’s still so much time to move forward.’ Lily was five when Phil split from her mother, reportedly ending the marriage by fax, before moving to the tax haven of Switzerland for the next 20 years.Following the break-up in 1994, Lily and her mother, an antiques dealer, moved to Los Angeles and the star would only see her father during school holidays.He told Piers: 'I only read it once. As it happens, and this has come out since New Year and this last new year, she wishes she hadn’t written it because she thought it was hurtful. 'I'm not saying it isn't hurtful. I know what I did or what I shouldn't have done. I treated her mum badly. I tried to always be there for her.'Whenever, from the age of five or six, whenever I left the house to go off, I've always tried to be there for her. But of course, you know, … I wasn't in control of my own destiny, was one thing. I don't want to sort of look like I'm avoiding the subject, but as an example, when my first marriage broke up, it was because I wasn’t there.'The star admitted touring constantly had taken a toll. He detailed how in 1977, Genesis did three American tours, two long European tours and a tour of Japan. 'And when I ended up getting separated from my first wife. The guys in the band said, well, why didn't you tell us?'We'd have stopped it, you know. But that's easier to say in retrospect. It wasn't like that. We were in a band. You know, it's one for all, for one.'On his first marriage he added: 'Yeah. I was gone, and, uh, we grew apart…So I understand what Lily means in that open letter.'Piers said: 'And did it hurt you in the way that she thinks or not?”He answered: 'Well, I don't remember really what I felt, because I only read it once. Because she told me about it. But, I guess I was hurt. I have always tried to be there for the kids, you know? I didn't want to be married three times. You don't go into life thinking like that.'Asked if he had any regrets, he said: 'I regret to some extent, I have to say, I regret my marriages falling apart. Sometimes I jumped well, one time, I jumped. Two times, I was pushed. But, I wouldn't have written it like that but on the other hand, I got five fantastic kids that I wouldn't have if that hadn't happened. So I have to balance it.'For the full interview, watch Piers Morgan Uncensored on YouTube.