Phil Collins has opened up about his myriad of health struggles in a new interview, declaring, “everything that could go wrong with me did go wrong with me.”
The legendary Genesis member and solo artist discussed his life and career in a conversation with UK journalist Zoe Ball for a special celebrating the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s upcoming 75th birthday (January 30th). The TV special Phil Collins Eras: In Conversation is set to air on BBC Two on January 31st, while the interview has also been broadcast as part of the ongoing Eras: Phil Collins podcast, with the fifth and final episode set to stream January 26th via BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer.
In the extensive interview, Collins said of his health, “It’s 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. I got COVID in hospital — my kidneys started to back up, you know, everything that started that could, all seemed to converge at the same time.”
The singer-drummer continued, “I had five operations on my knee now — I’ve got a knee that works and I can walk, albeit with assistance, you know, crutches or whatever. I’d probably been drinking too much, and so my kidneys were messed up, you know. I enjoyed coming off tour, coming off the road, but I thought, right, I’m gonna do all those things that I couldn’t do.”
In expanding about his alcohol consumption, he added, “I wasn’t one of those guys that sort of stayed up all night drinking, I’d drink during the day, but I guess I had too much of it. I was never drunk, although I fell over a couple of times. But, it is just one of those things that happened and it all caught up with me and I spent months in hospital.”
Despite his physical limitations, which were evident on Genesis’ 2021-2022 reunion tour, Collins says he’s not done making music, with hopes that his health will improve in the near future.
“I couldn’t have wished for a more varied and eventful playing career,” remarked Collins. “The things that are ahead for me would be, apart from just being back to being totally mobile and healthy, is go in there and have a fiddle about and see if there’s more music ’cause you know, you tend to sort of feel, ‘That’s it, I’ve done that.’ But you’ve gotta start doing it to see if you can do it. Otherwise you don’t do it. So that is something on my horizon.
“I’ve got some things that are half formed or were never finished, and a couple of things that were finished, which I like, so you know, maybe life in the old dog.”
The first four episodes of the Eras: Phil Collins podcast are available to stream at this location.
