Phil Collins and Paul McCartney Have Finally Ended Their 24-Year Feud: “We Kissed and Made Up”
For more than two decades, a brief exchange between Phil Collins and Paul McCartney remained an awkward footnote in the lives of two of Britain’s most celebrated musicians. Now, Collins says the disagreement is finally over.
Appearing on Piers Morgan Uncensored on October 2, 2026, Collins revealed that he and the former Beatle recently spoke by phone and cleared the air. Collins apologized for publicly revisiting their old dispute, while McCartney told him he had believed they were already on good terms.
“So we kissed and made up,” Collins said.
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A misunderstanding that lasted more than two decades
The origins of the dispute go back to 2002, when Collins and McCartney were both involved in Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace.
Collins was serving as the house drummer for the event and brought along a first-edition copy of Hunter Davies’ book about The Beatles. He wanted McCartney to sign it.
During a rehearsal, Collins was sitting at the side of the stage when McCartney approached with his then-wife, Heather Mills. Collins asked him to autograph the book, and McCartney agreed.
Then came the comment that Collins would remember for years.
According to Collins, McCartney referred to him as “our little Phil” while remarking to Mills that he was a big Beatles fan. Collins later acknowledged that McCartney may not have intended the remark to sound the way it did, but he nevertheless took it as patronizing.
Collins recalled his immediate reaction during his recent conversation with Piers Morgan: “I thought, ‘You arsehole.’”
He also admitted that, in retrospect, he may have interpreted the remark more seriously than McCartney intended.
“I probably made more of it than he meant,” Collins said.
Collins made the story public in 2016
The incident might have remained a private irritation had Collins not written about it years later.
While promoting his 2016 memoir, Not Dead Yet, Collins discussed the encounter publicly and described McCartney’s manner toward him as condescending. The story attracted attention because Collins and McCartney were hardly strangers at the time.
Collins had already worked with McCartney, including playing on one of his albums and performing with him at a Prince’s Trust event. That familiarity was part of what made the 2002 exchange particularly surprising to Collins.
After Collins’ account appeared in The Sunday Times, McCartney contacted him by email to address what had been said.
Collins did not respond.
The silence left the disagreement hanging for years, even though Collins later acknowledged that he understood why McCartney would have been upset that the story had been made public.
A charity auction brought them back together
The eventual reconciliation came through a much more unexpected route.
Earlier in 2026, Collins was organizing a charity auction benefiting the King’s Trust and contacted a number of musicians to ask whether they had memorabilia they might be willing to donate.
McCartney was among those contacted.
During their ensuing phone conversation, McCartney brought up the old dispute. Collins immediately realized where the discussion was headed.
“He said, ‘While we’re on the phone…’ And I thought, ‘Oh, here we go,’” Collins recalled.
McCartney then asked, “What is all this about?”
Collins told him, “I wish I’d never said it, Paul. I wish I’d never said it.”
McCartney replied that he had thought they were already on good terms.
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Collins apologized and the two moved on
For Collins, the conversation offered a chance to finally acknowledge the part he had played in keeping the dispute alive.
“I said I was sorry,” he told Morgan.
Collins said he believed the situation had clearly bothered McCartney, adding that everyone wants to be liked and understood. He also recognized that McCartney may have felt hurt by the way Collins had publicly told the story.
After years of tension, the conversation was enough to put the matter behind them.
“So we kissed and made up,” Collins said.
The reconciliation marks the end of a dispute that began with a few words exchanged backstage in 2002, resurfaced publicly in 2016 and remained unresolved until the two musicians finally talked it through in 2026.
From an awkward autograph to a clean slate
What began as a seemingly minor interaction at one of the biggest royal concerts of 2002 ultimately became a story Collins carried with him for 24 years.
McCartney has not publicly offered his own detailed account of the recent conversation, but Collins’ version is clear: the two musicians have reconciled, and the old disagreement is no longer standing between them.
For Collins, the episode ultimately came down to recognizing that a comment can be heard differently from the way it was intended, while an old grievance can become much larger when it remains unspoken.
After more than two decades, the former Genesis drummer and the former Beatle have finally cleared the air.
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