Phil Collins’ ex-wife has accused him of spying on her by setting up hidden cameras in her bathroom and changing room, in explosive new court documents from their bitter legal battle that got underway at a Florida courtroom Tuesday.
Orianne Cevey alleges the rock legend fabricated a ‘shameful story’ in his lawsuit to have her removed from his Miami Beach mansion, where she is living with her new toyboy husband.
The 46-year-old jewellery designer also calls Collins, 69, ‘callous’ for pushing her to live in her Las Vegas home, as she says that would take her son from another marriage away from his father who lives locally.
It is the latest blistering salvo in the new chapter of the British drummer’s headline-grabbing on-off relationship with Orianne.
After a 12-year marriage and two sons, the pair divorced in 2008 with a record $47 settlement.
They surprised the world when they announced in 2016 they were back together and living in Collins’ $33 million waterfront mansion in Miami.
Earlier this month it emerged they had again split, after the 69-year-old found out she had married struggling musician Thomas Bates, 30, in Las Vegas, while he was in Europe.
As he sued to have them removed, the In the Air Tonight singer claimed the pair are ‘trespassers’ and have taken over the home with armed guards ‘through a show of force’.
The couple hit back through their legal team and, in a newly revealed response, called the lawsuit ‘nothing more than a retaliation’ to the new marriage and a ‘shameful story’ that he has ‘fabricated’.
They accused him of trying to ‘strip them of all their belongings, excepting only the clothes on their backs as they are dragged out of their home.’
In a court hearing on Tuesday, Collins’ attorneys mocked Xever’s for claiming she has a 50 percent interest in the home, which was purchased through an LLC said to be owned solely by Collins.
He recently listed it for sale at $40 million and alleges she has stopped a realtor from trying to sell it.
But, in an affidavit, she alleges that, ‘Mr Collins and I selected and purchased the Family Home to live in as a family’ in 2015.
‘Even after we were divorced, Mr Collins and I always remained close,’ she reveals.
‘Mr Collins and I decided to give our romantic relationship another chance, especially because it was critical to the children’s well-being and important to us that the children be raised by two parents.’
She adds they chose a home that would be near to the father of her youngest son, whom she shares custody with ex-husband Charles Mejjati, and is referred to in the docs as ‘A.A’.
In another filing, her legal team accuse Collins of trying to ‘spy on (Cevey) during her most private moments.’
In fact, she claims that a ‘long time guard’ was spying on her for Collins and ‘relaying personal and private information about me’ to him after he left the home. The man was fired, according to the documents.
At a hearing earlier this week, the parties agreed to remove any disputed items in the mansion while the case is heard, including personal possessions Collins labelled ‘irreplaceable’, such as unpublished music and his collection of Alamo memorabilia.
On the back of Orianne’s claim of an ownership interest in the house, a Miami judge decided the case should be heard at a different court, indicating that the new couple will continue to reside in the house for now.
Collins’ team angrily accused them of using ‘gamesmanship’ to stay in the home.
A new hearing would be expedited, the judge said, but has yet to be scheduled.
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