Emily In Paris actress Lily Collins felt ‘sadness and anger’ towards her famous father Phil’s actions when she was younger, but has learnt to ‘forgive’ him with time

Songwriter Phil Collins was not the fatherly figure actress Lily Collins ‘expected’ growing up.

The Emily In Paris star, who is the daughter of the In The Air Tonight singer, has been vocal about their rocky relationship over the years. While the pair weren’t close during her childhood, they have bonded as adults, with Phil, 73, showing his support for Lily, 35, at premiers and red carpets.

In her 2017 memoir, Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, Lily shared how she ‘forgave’ Phil for making mistakes as a parent when she was young. She wrote: “I forgive you for not always being there when I needed you and for not being the dad I expected. I forgive the mistakes you made.”

She continued: “And although it may seem like it’s too late, it’s not. There’s still so much time to move forward. 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. I’m learning how to accept your actions and vocalise how they made me feel.

“I accept and honor the sadness and anger I felt toward the things you did or didn’t do, did or didn’t give me.” She added: “He may have still been alive, but most of the time it felt as if he were completely gone. I knew he loved me, yet he wasn’t physically around to tell me.”

The pair have grown closer over the years, with Phil praising Lily for her achievements. He told The Insider in 2016: “She just is remarkable. I really believe she can do anything she wants to. Anything she sets her mind to. She’s very grounded, knows what she wants to do. She’s done it without me. All I said to her was be careful what you say.”

Earlier this week, Lily appeared on Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen and discussed her dad’s music. She admitted she wasn’t aware of his stint in Genesis but heard the songs when she was a child. She said: “The funny thing is that I have these memories, as a kid, of songs that I don’t know if they’re actually real.

“Because they were in my head as I was maybe in the womb. But then when I went to the first Genesis concert that I actually remembered – as an adult – there were songs that came on that I went, ‘That’s a real song?!’ I thought that was just a melody in my head. It was really weird. It was confirmed.”

Two years ago, Lily weighed in on the nepotism debate and defended her own success. “It was out of the question that people would think that I use a free pass thanks to my name,” she told Vogue France. “I’m proud of my dad, but I wanted to be me, not just his daughter. For that, I was ready to wait to break through.”

Two years ago, Lily weighed in on the nepotism debate and defended her own success. “It was out of the question that people would think that I use a free pass thanks to my name,” she told Vogue France. “I’m proud of my dad, but I wanted to be me, not just his daughter. For that, I was ready to wait to break through.”