MUMBAI: Veteran musician Phil Collins says he was forced to quit drinking after he was diagnosed with a severe case of pancreatitis.
The 63-year-old says he began drinking heavily after stepping away from the music industry in 2010.
Collins’ boozing became so bad, he began attending Alcoholics Anonymous (Aa) meetings and spent a week in rehab, but he did not take his problems seriously until he was diagnosed with pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas, which causes internal bleeding and extreme pain.
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Collins insists his problems began after his ex-wife remarried and moved from Switzerland to Miami, Florida with their two youngest children, reports contactmusic.com.
He said: “I nearly died. I had pancreatitis. I’d retired to be with the kids… And really, retiring – well not working – and not having the kids, I guess left a big void. I was supposed to be an alcoholic. I went to meetings and I did try rehab – for a week.
“But I couldn’t stand it. It was like being at boarding school. So I said to myself, ‘I know what I need to do, I’m not a f*****g alcoholic. I was taking medication for this (tendon problems) and for all kinds of different little things. (The prescription pills) were not mixing with the drink, basically… ”
“The kids were getting a little worried and that’s what made me worried… I found myself a great doctor here in America, and I went to a couple of specialists. And I don’t drink any more. And I’ve never fallen off the wagon. I’ve just been lucky.”
