She may be the star of her own Netflix, but Lily Collins‘ parents—father Phil Collins and mother Jill Tavelman—are just as famous as her (if not more.) But the Emily in Paris star has spoken about how she wants to carve her own path.
Related: Here’s Who the Emily in Paris Cast Is Dating—Including 2 Who Found Love on Set
“I love to sing. But as I wanted to make my own way, far from the paternal genius, I preferred to be an actress,” she told Grazia in 2022. “I played in a few musicals because it’s the only setting in which I allow myself to sing. Frankly, I would be too afraid of comparisons!”
Who are Lily Collins’ parents?
Phil Collins, a musician, and Jill Tavelman, an architect, married in 1984, four years after his divorce from his first wife, Andrea Bertorelli, with whom he shared two children. Phil and Jill welcomed their first and only child together, a daughter named Lily Collins, in 1989. Lily‘s parents separated in 1994 when she was five years old. They finalized their divorce in 1997.
According to People, Phil and Jill’s breakup came after rumors that he had cheated on her with Lavinia Lang, an ex-romance, while he was touring with his band, Genesis, in 1992. At the time of the split, there was also a rumor that Phil had asked Jill for a divorce through fax, which he denied in an interview with ABC News in 2016. “[It] really hurt my career, or my public persona,” he said. “And it was based on an untruth … So, I just thought it would be an opportunity just to lay it all out, and if I say it didn’t happen, I’m trusting that people will believe me.”
Though Lily has never spoken about her father’s rumored affair, she did write about her estrangement from her dad when she was younger in her 2017 book, Lily Collins Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, where she calls out her father for not being around when she was a child. “Because my dad was often gone, I never wanted to do anything that would make him stay away even longer,” she wrote.
“I became extra careful about what I said and how I said it, afraid he’d think I was angry or didn’t love him. And the truth is, I was angry. I missed him and wanted him there.” The book also includes a letter from Lily to her father, where she forgives him for not being the dad she “expected.” “I forgive you for not always being there when I needed and for not being the dad I expected. I forgive the mistakes you made,” she wrote.
Who is Lily Collins’ father, Phil Collins?
Lily’s dad was famous before she was, so perhaps the question should be: Who is Phil Collins’ daughter, Lily Collins? Phil—whose full name is Philip David Charles Collins—was born on January 30, 1951, in Chiswick, Middlesex, England. Like his daughter, Phil—who is a musician and actor—also works in the entertainment industry. He is best known as the drummer and lead singer of the rock band, Genesis, which debuted in 1968 and has released 15 studio albums—five of which have gone number one on the official United Kingdom album charts.
After Genesis, Phil went on to have a career as a solo singer. His first album, Face Value, went number one on the UK albums charts in 1981. The album was followed by seven more studio albums, four of which also went number one—including Phil’s most recent record, Going Back, in 2010. Along with his own music, Phil—who is best known for hits like “In the Air Tonight” and his cover of The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love”—is also known for singing the soundtracks for movies like 1999’s Tarzan, 2003’s Brother Bear, 1984’s Against All Odds, 1985’s White Nights and 1988’s Buster.
Of the soundtracks he’s done, Phil is perhaps best known for the song “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Tarzan, which he recorded with Glenn Close, who voiced Kala in the Disney animated movie. Phil also has eight Grammy awards, one of which was for the Tarzan soundtrack. As an actor, Phil has starred in movies and TV shows like Miami Vice, Hook and The Jungle Book 2.
Phil has been married and divorced three times. He married his first wife, Andrea Bertorelli, in England in 1975 when they were both 24 years old. The two met in a drama class in London when they were 11 years old and reconnected when Phil’s band, Genesis, performed in Vancouver years later. After their wedding, Phil adopted Andrea’s daughter, Joely, who was born in 1972 and is an actress and movie producer. The couple welcomed their only child together, a son named Simon Collins, in 1976. (Simon is a former vocalist and drummer for the rock band, Sound of Contact.)
After his divorce from Andrea in 1980, Collins married his second wife, Jill Tavelman, in 1984. The two welcomed their only child together, a daughter named Lily Collins, in 1989. Phil and Jill separated in 1994 after rumors that he had cheated on her twice with Lavinia Lang, a former drama school classmate of Phil’s, while he was touring with Genesis in 1992. The two finalized their divorce in 1996, with Phil paying Jill a settlement of £17 million. Phil married his third wife, Orianne Cevey—a translator whom he met on tour with Genesis—in 1999. The two welcomed their first child, a son named Nicholas Collins, in 2001.
Their second child, a son named Matthew Collins, was born in 2004. Phil and Orianne divorced in 2006. As part of their divorce settlement, Orianne received £25 million. Phil currently lives in Féchy, Switzerland, while he also has homes in New York City and Dersingham, Norfolk. According to a 2018 report by The Sunday Times, Phil is the second wealthiest drummer in the world behind The Beatles member Ringo Starr. According to the newspaper, Phil has a net worth of £120 million, which is around $160 million in the United States.
In an interview with the Radio Times in 2020, Lily revealed that she realized her dad was famous when she and her family were at Disneyland when she was a kid and she saw another man with a T-shirt with her father’s face on it. “He had my dad’s face on his T-shirt and I didn’t quite get it. Then he saw my dad and asked for a photo — and it was a really weird moment,” she said. “I was thinking, “Why does he want a picture of my dad, and why is my dad on his T-shirt?”. Slowly but surely, I started to understand.”
Lily also told the Radio Times that she would “stay away” from starring in a biopic about her father as she wouldn’t want to mix her personal and professional life. “I think I would want to keep that part of my life separate, but I’d be really fascinated to find out who they’d choose to play him,” she said. She also noted that her father is “very proud” and is “super excited” whenever she’s cast in a new project.
In her 2017 book, Lily Collins Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, Lily revealed that she had an estranged relationship from her father when she was younger because of how little he was around in her childhood. “Because my dad was often gone, I never wanted to do anything that would make him stay away even longer,” she wrote. “I became extra careful about what I said and how I said it, afraid he’d think I was angry or didn’t love him. And the truth is, I was angry. I missed him and wanted him there.” She continued, “I’ve realized that many of my deepest insecurities stem from these issues with my dad. It’s taken me over a decade to resolve some of them (others I’m still resolving) and to finally build up the courage to speak my mind to him.”
In a letter to her father in the book, Lily forgave her dad for not being around when she was younger. “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,” she wrote. “I’m learning how to accept your actions and vocalize how they made me feel… I now understand that my frustrations surrounding our communication are not about changing you, but accepting you as you are.”
She continued, “I forgive you for not always being there when I needed and for not being the dad I expected. I forgive the mistakes you made.” Lily also used the letter as an olive branch between her and her father. “There’s still so much time to move forward. And I want to. I’m inviting you to join me. I’ll always be your little girl,” she wrote.
In the book, Lily explained that she wrote the letter for others who have a tumultuous relationship with their fathers. “Even if they’re listening, sometimes our dads still don’t truly hear what we’re saying. So feel free to read this letter to your dad or use it as a guide to write your own,” she wrote. “All you can do is stay true and tell him how you feel.”
Who is Lily Collins’ mother, Jill Tavelman?
Jill was born on April 5, 1956, in Los Angeles. Jill works as an actress and an architect. She made a cameo in the 1988 movie Buster, in which her ex-husband, Phil Collins, starred as the lead. Jill also owns an antique store named Waverly on Doheny in West Hollywood, California, which she opened in 2014. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2019, Jill explained that her love for antiques came from her childhood of collecting items, including things her parents would throw in the trash.
“I just didn’t understand the concept of throwing things away. I’ve always matched people up with gifts that are really sentimental or hit the spot for them,” she said. “And all of a sudden, I found myself with a lot of free time, because my daughter had grown up and was on her path. I had been doing different charity work for 20-some years. … And I thought, ‘It’s time to do something for me, that I’m good at.’”
She continued, “People tend to grab the silver and the china, the things that obviously are worth something, right? So these people were sitting on the floor of the house [going through the owners’] love letters to each other, and they were cutting the stamps off the envelopes and throwing the letters away. They didn’t care about the love letters, and I thought that was the saddest thing I’d ever seen because nobody wanted them, and it was the value of the stamp to them that was important. I was like, ‘Can I have the letters?’”
In an interview with People in 1994, the same year they separated, Jill recalled how Phil hadn’t seen Lily for two months. “[Lily] hasn’t seen her father for two months,” she said at the time. “She keeps weeping, ‘I want my daddy.’ Phil sends her faxes, but I know she’d rather hear his voice. Phil doesn’t phone because he has to save his voice for the next day.”
Since her parents’ divorce in 1996 after rumors that her mother had cheated on her father with a former flame, Lily hasn’t spoken much about her parents’ split. “I know the truth and I know how it was for me, and I know how much I love my family – and that’s all that really matters,” she told The Guardian in 2012. “I’ve grown up knowing that you put as much of your private life out there as you feel comfortable with.”
