Phil Collins To Be Grilled On Camera Over Ex-Wife's Claims He Abused Alcohol & Painkillers, Didn't Shower For A Full Year
Oct. 25 2021, Published 6:31 p.m. ET
Notoriously private Phil Collins will be forced to address deeply personal claims made by his ex-wife, Orianne Bates, who says the musician abused alcohol and painkillers and that he recently went a whole year without showering.
According to The Daily Mail, the 70-year-old internationally renown superstar is set to be deposed on camera in December upon completion of his band Genesis' comeback tour, The Last Domino.
Collins' testimony will be used as part of his 46-year-old ex-wife's lawsuit to obtain 50 percent of the former couple's Miami Beach home, which she claims he verbally promised her.
Collins reportedly tried to stop Bates from suing him for half of the residence formerly owned by Jennifer Lopez, but Miami judge Carlos Guzman ruled earlier this month that Bates' attorney, Richard Wolfe, could apply for a subpoena to question the musician under oath.
According to Bates, the Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winner started drinking booze heavily and popping prescription pills in 2017, alleging that he would "fall down from the combination of prescription medicines and excessive alcohol."
She said Collins has "collapsed on stage when performing because he was so impaired he could not stand up" and that "on multiple occasions, he hit his head when he fell, and checked into hospitals under an alias."
This is around the time Collins revealed that he had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He said he had developed an infected abscess on his foot, which was treated using a hyperbaric chamber.
He was set to kick off a comeback tour but was forced to cancel following a fall in a hotel room on his way to the bathroom. He hit his head and obtained a severe gash near his eye, which required stitches.
At the time, his reps said that he suffered from "'drop foot' as a result of a back operation which makes it difficult to walk."