- - Lily Collins Had a Complicated Relationship With Her Famous Father While Growing Up

Rachel KingDecember 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM

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Meet Lily Collins’s Parents Kevin Winter - Getty Images

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Lily Collins was born into the entertainment world. She made her film debut in The Blind Side in 2009 and later earned a Golden Globe nomination for Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply in 2016. She went on to take on a wide range of roles, including Snow White in Mirror Mirror opposite Julia Roberts, the lead in the romantic comedy Love, Rosie, and a young woman in deep recovery in the harrowing Netflix drama To the Bone.

But it was her family ties that kept her close to the arts from the start. Lily is the daughter of musician Phil Collins and architect Jill Tavelman. Their marriage ended when Lily was five, and she lived full time with her mother, an arrangement that shaped much of her upbringing.

Here, get to know Lily’s parents, Phil and Jill.

Meet Lily’s mom, Jill Tavelman:

Jill and Lily at the afterparty for Rules Don’t Apply in 2016. Michael Kovac - Getty Images

Tavelman reportedly met Phil at Hollywood’s legendary Rainbow Bar on the Sunset Strip in 1980, and they married in 1984. Lily was born on March 18, 1989, and she is their only child. (Phil has five children total from three different marriages; Tavelman was his second marriage.)

Previously a teacher and an architect, Tavelman now owns an antique store in West Hollywood, California that she opened in 2014. On Instagram, she describes herself as a “purveyor of resurrected oddities” and also still goes by her married name. Lily and her mother remain quite close.

“Happy Mother’s Day to my first role model and partner in crime. Little did I know back then just how many adventures we’d go on together and the never-ending beautiful experiences we’d share,” Lily wrote on Instagram in 2021. “Thank you for always encouraging me to be a kind-hearted, driven, passionate and adventurous spirit. I respect and admire you more than I can properly express in words.”

Meet Lily’s dad, Phil Collins:

Phil carrying Lily while on tour in Japan in 1988. Dave Hogan - Getty Images

With Phil touring around the world, he was away often during her childhood. When Lily was older, the two later repaired their relationship. But in 2012, Lily shrugged off any suggestions of childhood conflicts as just rumors. "I've only ever known growing up across different countries–to me it's just fun,” she told The Guardian at the time.

But Lily opened up much more a few years later. Among other deeply personal issues, she reflected on her relationship with her father in her 2017 autobiography, Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me. “Because my dad was often gone, I never wanted to do anything that would make him stay away even longer,” she wrote in the book. “I became extra careful about what I said and how I said it, afraid he’d think I was angry or didn’t love him. And the truth is, I was angry. I missed him and wanted him there. I’ve realized that many of my deepest insecurities stem from these issues with my dad. It’s taken me over a decade to resolve some of them (others I’m still resolving) and to finally build up the courage to speak my mind to him.”

Furthermore, Lily shared about her experience with an eating disorder and linked some of those feelings to her parents’ split. “Not only did I start viewing myself differently physically, but I began limiting my happiness by controlling my eating habits,” she wrote.

The pair appear to have mended fences in the years since. In 2022, Lily dedicated a loving birthday post to Phil on Instagram. “I may no longer fit in your arms or sit comfortably on your shoulders but you continue to hug me tightly when I need it most. We may not get to spend time together that often but when we are face to face, you really do see me,” Lily wrote. “You may not always believe it but please trust me when I say, no matter how old I get or what life may bring, I will always need you.”

Meet Lily’s parents in-law:Charlie McDowell, Lily Collins, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson at the Los Angeles screening of Windfall in 2022. Charley Gallay - Getty Images" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/q2p.r3RRhMi_195HOYO0zw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjk-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_towncountry_108/91879930839cd01a4c4c9b1b8b57ebe3>Charlie McDowell, Lily Collins, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson at the Los Angeles screening of Windfall in 2022. Charley Gallay - Getty Images" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/q2p.r3RRhMi_195HOYO0zw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjk-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/aol_towncountry_108/91879930839cd01a4c4c9b1b8b57ebe3 class=caas-img>Charlie McDowell, Lily Collins, Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson at the Los Angeles screening of Windfall in 2022. Charley Gallay - Getty Images

You can’t pick your blood relatives and you can’t pick your in-laws, but sometimes you luck out. Lily, indeed, lucked out in the in-laws department. In September 2021, Lily married Charlie McDowell, also the offspring of two very famous actors: Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen. The couple divorced in 1990, and Steenburgen later married Ted Danson in 1995. But everyone seems to love Lily.

“Charlie, my son, and Lily, my daughter-in-law!!! Thank you for letting us all bask in the transparent beauty of your love for each other,” Steenburgen wrote on Instagram in 2021. “My heart is overflowing and it almost feels like the last few days were some sort of beautiful dream. But it is all real, and I feel like the luckiest mother in the world.” (She also took it upon herself to educate Steenburgen and Danson about The Real Housewives of Orange County.)

In an interview with People in August, Malcolm was asked what he thought about Netflix’s Emily in Paris. He candidly admitted it wasn’t for him, but that he supported Lily’s career anyway. “But I'm the biggest fan of my daughter-in-law,” he told the magazine. “I think she's absolutely one of the great actresses.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”