Phil Collins: Off The Wagon Again

Phil Collins is back on the booze as he embarks on his "Not Dead Yet" tour, leaving pals fearing he’s playing russian roulette with his health and needs to check into rehab before it’s too late!

After nearly “killing himself with vodka,” the 66-year-old Brit says he quit booze for three years and now can knock back “a couple of glasses of wine” and still be able to quit! He also insists even in his heaviest guzzling days, he was NOT an alcoholic. “I had a problem with alcohol,” he admitted. “I enjoyed it … but when I had to stop because it was killing me, I stopped.” Still, “he’s playing with a dangerous game” and needs professional help, said an insider to The National ENQUIRER.

“He thinks he can have a couple drinks and stop, but he’s kidding himself,” added the source. “That’s the oldest excuse in the book. Those cravings never go away. He needs to go to rehab or he might succeed in killing himself this time!” Some members of Phil’s inner circle “worry he’ll start reaching for the vodka” once he hits the road and the pressures of the tour start mounting,” noted the insider. “He’s the kind of person who shouldn’t drink at all.”

The former "Genesis" frontman was heavily boozing when he was hospitalized in 2012. He blamed his drinking on depression after his divorce from wife Orianne Cevey. Ironically, after divorcing and paying her a $46 million settlement nine years ago, Phil and the 44-year-old jewelry designer reconciled.“I now call Phil my husband again,” she said. “We are so close that it does not actually make a difference if we are married or not.”

Phil has also battled medical problems. In 2009, he lost the use of his hands after botched back surgery, when bungling docs cut the nerves to his hands. "He can’t play the drums unless the drumsticks are taped to his hands,” revealed the insider. “Now Phil’s drinking again and it’s causing a wave of worry among his loved ones.”