Phil Collins shared a health update shortly before a claim Paul McCartney had visited the Genesis star in hospital emerged online.
Creepy photos of The Beatles legend visiting the frail-looking frontman Collins in a London hospital, playing a song on his guitar, circulated online earlier this week.
The post featured two images of McCartney hugging Collins in what appeared to be a hospital room, with staff standing behind the musicians and looking on.
Yet the images have been debunked as artificial intelligence, pointing to details including the fact that McCartney is holding the guitar as if right-handed, when he plays left-handed, the guitar only having five strings instead of six and the absence of a fifth finger on his strumming hand.
A representative for Collins had told fans that the 74-year-old music legend was in hospital, but not for end-of-life care, before the AI-generated photos were shared earlier this week.
It was reported that Collins was in the hospital after undergoing knee surgery, according to the The Independent.
The health update was prompted when unfounded rumors circulated online that the retired musician was on his deathbed.
Collins’ spokesperson attempted to calm any worry surrounding the Genesis drummer’s health, assuring TMZ he is ‘nowhere near death’.
The spokesperson did not specify any details about the knee operation but this is not the first surgery Collins has undergone.
In 2007, the In The Air Tonight hitmaker suffered a spinal injury, resulting in his continuous struggle with severe nerve damage and deteriorating mobility.
He dislocated vertebrae in his neck while on tour with Genesis but after two surgeries — in 2009 and 2015 — Collins was reliant on a cane.
The injury also resulted in numbness in his hands, meaning that by 2019, he was unable to hold drumsticks and was forced to retire.
His health took another difficult turn in 2021, when Collins shared with fans that on top of nerve damage, he was also battling diabetes. In the years since, his health has continued to deteriorate.
Speaking to Mojo magazine in their April issue, he admitted he is no longer ‘hungry’ enough to make music.
‘I keep thinking I should go downstairs to the studio and see what happens,’ Collins told the outlet. ‘But I’m not hungry for it anymore. The thing is, I’ve been sick, I mean very sick.’
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