Phil Collins says he's in hospital amid false hospice rumours

Phil Collins has revealed he is in a hospital after undergoing knee surgery.

His representative made the revelation while countering rumours from last week that the former drummer and frontman of British rock band Genesis was in hospice care, per The Independent.

It's unclear what sparked the rumour, but the eight-time Grammy-winning artist revealed months ago that he was “very sick.”

“I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens, but I’m not hungry for it anymore,” Collins told Mojo magazine in February after his final concert with the group at London’s O2 Arena.

“I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens, but I’m not hungry for it anymore,” he said. “The thing is—I’ve been sick. I mean, very sick.”

Collins announced his retirement from live shows in 2022, after having previously said he can “barely hold a drumstick” following a serious spinal injury in 2007. The injury damaged vertebrae in his upper neck and caused lasting nerve damage.

His 24-year-old son, Nic Collins—whom he shares with third wife Orianne Cevey—stepped in as drummer during Genesis’s The Last Domino? farewell tour in 2021. Nic now performs regularly with his own band, Better Strangers.

“I’m kind of physically challenged a bit, which is very frustrating because I’d love to be playing up there with my son,” he said in a September 2021 interview with BBC Breakfast.

Collins, 73, is also dad to four older children from previous relationships, including adopted daughter Joely, 52, and son Simon, 48, with his first wife, Andrea Bertorelli.

His second wife, Jill Tavelman, is the mother of Emily in Paris star Lily Collins, 36. His youngest, soccer player Matthew, 20, is from his marriage to Orianne Cevey.