Phil Collins’ daughter pens letter ‘forgiving’ him
Lily Collins conceded she couldn't "rewrite the past" with her famous father. Photo: Getty
The daughter of musician Phil Collins has written an open letter to the music legend forgiving him for “not being the dad I expected”.
In her new memoir, Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, excerpted by the Daily Mail, Lily Collins writes about her struggles with an eating disorder and her complicated relationship with her father.
“We all make choices and, although I don’t excuse some of yours, at the end of the day we can’t rewrite the past,” her letter to him reads.
The 27-year-old daughter of the former Genesis frontman and his second wife, American actress Jill Tavelman, Lily is a Golden Globe-nominated actress who was raised in Los Angeles by her mother.
“I forgive you for not always being there when I needed and for not being the dad I expected,” she writes to her father, who has previously admitted he was unfaithful to Tavelman during their marriage.
“I forgive the mistakes you made. And although it may seem like it’s too late, it’s not. There’s still so much time to move forward.
“I’m learning how to accept your actions and vocalise how they made me feel. I accept and honour the sadness and anger I felt toward the things you did or didn’t do, did or didn’t give me.”
Lily also links her battle with anorexia and bulimia to her father’s divorce from his third wife, Orianne Cevey.
“Not only did I start viewing myself differently physically, but I began limiting my happiness by controlling my eating habits,” she writes in the book.
“I couldn’t handle the pain and confusion surrounding my dad’s divorce, and I was having a hard time balancing being a teenager with pursuing two different grown-up careers.”
Lily admits “many of my deepest insecurities stem from these issues with my dad”.
However, today the father-daughter duo is close, despite their busy careers.
In her upcoming film Rules Don’t Apply, Lily’s role required her to sing on camera, and she told The Belfast Telegraph her father was “very proud” of her performance.
“I didn’t tell him I was doing it until I sent him the trailer,” she said.
“So I sent him the newest trailer of just me singing, and he got back and he was like, ‘Ugh, utterly fabulous!’ He was very proud; he was really, really excited.”
