Phil Collins reportedly pays ex-wife $50 million in divorce settlement

Pop singer and former Genesis drummer Phil Collins has just given his former wife Another Day in Paradise — many of them, in fact. ITN and the Press Association reported on August 18 that Collins paid out no less than £25 million (about $50 million U.S.) to 35-year-old Orianne Cevey, his third wife, in their divorce.

The couple has been living Separate Lives for more than two years. Collins announced the separation on March 16, 2006, in a public statement that said that he and Cevey had been putting “too much pressure on their relationship” and that they’d been “growing apart for some time”.

It’s not the first time Collins, 57, has paid a hefty divorce settlement, however. In 1996, he paid his second wife, Jill Tavelman, £17 million. His latest settlement is the U.K.’s most expensive in the entertainment world. Earlier this year, model Heather Mills won £24.3 million from ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.

According to London’s Sunday Times, Collins’ fortune is currently worth about £140 million. But the Press Association says that figures from Philip Collins Limited reveal that his wealth decreased by more than £25 million within the last two years.

Collins has two sons with Cevey. He also has a son and a daughter from his previous marriages, and Vancouver-based actor Joely Collins is Collins’ adopted daughter from his first marriage to Andrea Bertorelli. He divorced Bertorelli in 1980, and his first solo single, “In the Air Tonight”, was reportedly written about the failing marriage. Collins married Cevey in 1999 after dating her for five years.

Phil Collins joined the art-rock group Genesis in 1970 as the drummer and occasional vocalist. After original lead singer Peter Gabriel left the band in 1975, Collins took over the reins and steered Genesis into a more mainstream, radio-friendly direction. During the 1980s, his other solo hits included “Against All Odds”, “One More Night”, and covers of the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” and The Mindbenders’ “A Groovy Kind of Love”.

Collins later won an Academy Award for the song, “You’ll Be in My Heart”, from the 1999 animated Disney movie Tarzan. He has also won several Grammys.