Phil Collins says he and Paul McCartney have finally buried the hatchet.
The Genesis drummer, 75, revealed on “Piers Morgan Uncensored” last Friday that the Beatles legend, 84, rang him up recently to clear the air after nearly a quarter-century of estrangement. The call came after McCartney heard Collins was soliciting memorabilia donations for a Kings Trust charity auction.
Collins told Morgan that McCartney opened the conversation by asking, “What is all this about?”
“I said, ‘I wish I’d never said it, Paul. I wish I’d never said it,'” Collins recalled. “He said, ‘I thought we were good.'”
“So we kissed and made up,” the “You’ll Be in My Heart” singer added, though he couldn’t resist one final jab. “I said I was sorry. Obviously this had been bugging him because he likes to be liked, as we all do … maybe him more than some other people. But we all like to be liked, and I understand that.”
The remark that launched the feud dates back to the Queen’s Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace in 2002. Collins, an avid Beatles collector, had brought a rare first edition of Hunter Davies’ Beatles biography for McCartney to sign. During rehearsals, McCartney turned to his then-wife Heather Mills and remarked, “He’s a big Beatles fan, is our little Phil?”
Collins admitted to Morgan that the throwaway comment — specifically the word “little” — set him off. “I thought, ‘You arsehole,'” he said. “I couldn’t help it. That’s just what I thought. I probably made more of it than he meant; I did make more of it.”
The grudge deepened in 2016 when Collins, promoting his memoir “Not Dead Yet,” gave an interview to the Sunday Times alleging McCartney had always treated him “condescendingly.” McCartney read the account and fired off an email expressing disappointment. Collins told Morgan that McCartney used the word “sacrosanct,” adding, “I’m not sure what that means, but anyway it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth and obviously left a bad taste in his.”
Collins also addressed the reconciliation in a separate 2026 Sunday Times interview, expressing relief that the rift had closed. “I wish I hadn’t said it, although it did happen,” he explained. “But we’ve made up, he’s happy about the fact that we discussed it, and I’m happy we discussed it, so it was just really lovely that it’s gone full circle now.” He noted that McCartney remains “part of [his] life.”
Despite his ongoing health battles — Collins has undergone five knee operations and previously suffered kidney failure — he has not ruled out returning to music. The former Genesis frontman has largely retired from performing due to nerve damage that left him unable to play drums, though he made occasional appearances during the band’s 2021-2022 farewell tour.
Collins’ interview with Morgan marked the first time he detailed the full phone call that ended one of British rock’s longest-running cold wars between two Hall of Fame inductees.