Phil Collins’ beef with Paul McCartney is so “yesterday”.
during an interview “Piers Morgan Uncensored” On Friday, the “In the Air Tonight” singer once again recalled the feud with the “Maybe I’m Amazed” singer that started 24 years ago — and shared how they ended their feud.
The inciting incident between the two musicians occurred at the Queen’s Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace in 2002, when, during rehearsals, Collins presented a rare first edition of Hunter Davis’ book on The Beatles and asked McCartney to sign it.
The former Genesis drummer claims it was then that McCartney said to his then-wife Heather Mills, “He’s a big Beatles fan, is our little Phil?”
“I thought, ‘You’re an asshole,'” he recalled telling Morgan. “I couldn’t help it. I just thought about it. I probably made more of it than he expected; I made more of it.”
But time heals all wounds, as the old saying goes.
Collins, 75, told Morgan that McCartney, 84, had recently called him after hearing that he was asking fellow musicians if they had any memorabilia that they would offer to donate to a King’s Trust charity auction he was organizing.
Collins said that during a phone conversation, McCartney mentioned their estrangement and asked, “What’s this all about?”
“I said, ‘I wish I had never said it, Paul. I wish I had never said it,'” he recalled. “He said, ‘I thought we were good.'”
“So we kissed and made up,” the “You’ll Be in My Heart” singer concluded, though he still took another dig at McCartney.
“I said I was sorry,” Collins said. “Obviously it was bothering her because she likes to be liked, as we all do… maybe more than some other people. But we all like to be liked, and I understand that.”
Morgan then asked whether McCartney had said the word “small” had inspired him nearly a quarter century earlier, which Collins confirmed.
While promoting her memoir “Not Dead Yet” in 2016, Collins – who has not closed the door to new music despite health issues – spoke about the feud to the Sunday Times, alleging that McCartney had always treated her “condescendingly”.
“McCartney read it and emailed him, saying, ‘I’m a little disappointed, blah blah,’ he said don’t do that… ‘Sacred’ was the word he used. I’m not sure what it meant, but anyway it left kind of a bad taste in my mouth and apparently left a bad taste in his mouth too,” Collins. Said in a 2026 interview With Sunday Times.
Collins also mentioned their reunion during a conversation with the outlet, saying she was happy because McCartney “is part of it.” [his] life.”
“I wish I hadn’t said it, even though it happened,” he explained. “But we’ve compromised, he’s happy with the fact that we discussed it, and I’m happy that we discussed it, so it was really lovely that it’s completely over now.”