Phil Collins To Be Grilled On Camera Over Ex-Wife's Claims He Abused Alcohol & Painkillers, Didn't Shower For A Full Year
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."
By 2019, Bates said Collins "became increasingly depressed, withdrawn [and] abusive." The operation, she said, had made him "increasingly addicted to antidepressants and painkillers."
"He was incapable of having sex," she alleged. "He stopped showering, brushing his teeth and dressing properly (in fact, he did not shower or brush his teeth from 2019 until August 2020 when he vacated [their Miami Beach home])."
Collins' legal team dismissed his ex-wife's allegations as "totally immaterial" to the dispute over the house, calling them "scandalous, scurrilous, unethical and, for the most part, patently false or grossly exaggerated."
But a source close to the situation told the publication that "questions about Phil's mindset, mental state, personal behaviour and acts" could help "convince a jury that Phil's mind was impacted by alleged drug and drink use."
"Certainly while matters about his hygiene and intimate interactions with her may seem frivolous, this potentially paints a picture of the unusual nature of their relationship," said the insider, predicting that "it's going to be uncomfortable for Phil because he is notoriously shy and private."
Bates was Collins' third and so far last wife. They were married from 1999 to 2008 and had two sons: 19-year-old Nicholas and 15-year-old Matthew.
As part of their divorce settlement, the musician had to pay his ex a record-breaking $46.76 million.
In August, she married musician and Miami businessman Thomas Bates. They newlyweds continue to live in the home Orianne once shared with Phil.
