Long before he became one of the biggest stars of the ’80s, Phil Collins was just a fan. As a teenager, he appeared as an extra in the concert audience of The Beatles‘ 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night. So it makes sense that a single offhand comment from Paul McCartney decades later stuck with him for so long.
In a Friday interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, as reported by Rolling Stone, Collins revisited the moment. It was 2002, and both musicians were rehearsing for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace. Collins brought along a rare first edition of Hunter Davies’ Beatles biography and asked McCartney to sign it.
McCartney signed it, but then he turned to his then-wife, Heather Mills, and joked, “He’s a big Beatles fan, is our little Phil?”
Collins admitted his overreaction. “I probably made more of it than he meant,” he said.
The story went public in 2016 when Collins shared it while promoting his memoir. McCartney emailed him to clear the air, but Collins never wrote back.
Earlier this year, the two finally reconnected. McCartney called Collins after hearing he was collecting memorabilia for a King’s Trust charity auction, and before hanging up, he brought up the old tension. “What is all this about?” McCartney asked.
“I said, ‘I wish I’d never said it, Paul,'” Collins recalled. “So we kissed and made up.”
Collins also showed some understanding for McCartney’s side, saying the situation had probably been “bugging him” because “he likes to be liked, as we all do.”
After more than 20 years, one phone call settled things between them. Sometimes, what feels like a personal slight turns out to be a misunderstanding that just needs a conversation to put it to rest.