Tragic Phil Collins Health Update at 74: Live-In Nurse, Crutches, and Years of Pain

Phil Collins, now 74, has opened up in a rare and heartfelt interview about how his health has taken a tough turn lately. It’s honestly pretty sad to hear—the guy who’s given us so many iconic songs and drum fills is dealing with a lot.

He hasn’t performed or done many interviews since stepping back from music in 2022, but with his 75th birthday coming up at the end of the month, he sat down for BBC’s Eras podcast series with Zoe Ball. There, he got really candid about what he’s going through these days.

He explained that he now has a live-in nurse around the clock just to help him stay on top of his medications and daily needs. “It’s an ongoing thing,” he said. “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 knee problems have been brutal—he’s had five surgeries on them, and only one really works properly now. He can still get around, but it takes crutches or some kind of support. On top of that, there’s the drop-foot issue from a spinal surgery back in 2007 that left one foot numb, which is why he’s been using a cane since around 2015.

Then there’s the nerve damage from a neck operation in 2009 (it started bothering him during Genesis’ 2007 tour while he was drumming). After the surgery, he lost feeling in his fingers and could only play drums if the sticks were taped to his hands. That must have been devastating for someone whose whole life revolved around playing.

His last live show was back in 2021 on Genesis’ The Last Domino? tour at the O2 in London—he did it sitting down, with his son Nic stepping in on drums. Things got even harder with COVID hitting him while he was in the hospital, plus serious kidney troubles.

He links some of the kidney issues to drinking too much after retiring from the road. “I’d probably been drinking too much, and so my kidneys were messed up, you know,” he admitted. He said he wasn’t ever properly drunk, but he fell a couple of times, and it all caught up with him—he ended up spending months in the hospital. Thankfully, he’s been sober for two years now.

Looking back, he called the last few years “difficult, interesting, and frustrating,” but he added, “It’s all right now.” It’s clear he’s trying to stay positive despite everything.

For those who might not know his full story, Phil started out as a kid actor—appearing in classics like A Hard Day’s Night and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, even starring in Oliver! on the West End at age 12. By 18, he switched to music, joining Genesis as drummer in 1970. When Peter Gabriel left in 1975, he took over as lead singer and helped turn the band into legends.

It’s tough seeing someone who’s meant so much to so many music fans going through this, but props to him for being so open about it.