The Phil Collins lawsuit with his ex-wife just got even weirder

Phil Collins married Orianne Bates in 1997 when he was 54 and she was 23. It did not last with the couple divorcing in 2006. Phil paid out £25 million in the settlement, which, at the time, was the largest celebrity divorce settlement in the history of the UK.

Well, it’s not over.

Phil had a beachfront place in Miami. The two reunited in 2016 and began living together in that house. But then in 2020, Phil sent her an eviction notice, saying that she’d secretly married another dude earlier that year. Accusations also include Bates “holding the mansion hostage” with armed guards everywhere. Once that was sorted out, Phil sold the mansion for US$51 million this year. And there’s the problem.

Bates is suing Phil for half the proceeds from that sale. As part of her case, her lawyers paint Phil in a dim light, saying that he became “depressed, abusive and incapable of having sex.” Oh, and that he stopped showering and didn’t brush his teeth for a year. Phil’s lawyers call these claims “scandalous, scurrilous, unethical and, for the most part, patently false or grossly exaggerated” as well as “totally immaterial” over the lawsuit involving the house.

Phil will have to respond to all that in a deposition.

Read more of the gory details here.