Drummer Nic Collins is ready to conquer the role of uncle to sister Lily Collins’ newborn daughter.
“Welcome to the world, Tove,” Nic, 23, wrote via Instagram Story on Friday, January 31. “[I’m] already so proud to be your uncle.”
He added, “Congratulations @lilyjcollins & @charliemcdowell. Love you, guys.”
Phil Collins, a Grammy winner, is a father of five children. With Andrea Bertorelli, he has children Joely and Simon. His daughter Lily is from his relationship with Jill Tavelman, and sons Nic and Matthew are from his marriage to Orianne Cevey.
At 74 years old, Phil recently became a grandfather for the second time. Joely, his daughter, became a parent in 2009. Lily, 35, and her husband Charlie McDowell welcomed their daughter Tove Jane via a surrogate.
The Emily in Paris star, Lily, and McDowell, 41, shared the news on Instagram with a heartfelt message, thanking their surrogate and everyone who supported them throughout the journey.
The new parents also uploaded a photo of the infant wearing a personalized sweater while sleeping in a bassinet.
Hours later, McDowell defended the couple’s decision to welcome their first baby via gestational carrier.
“Thank you for all the kind messages and love. We are overjoyed and very grateful,” the director wrote via Instagram comment. “In regards to the unkind messages about surrogacy and our path to having a baby — it’s OK to not be an expert on surrogacy.”
McDowell continued, “It’s OK to not know why someone might need a surrogate to have a child. It’s OK to not know the motivations of a surrogate regardless of what you assume. And it’s OK to spend less time spewing hateful words into the world, especially in regards to a beautiful baby girl who has brought a lot of love into people’s lives. That’s all for now because she just pooped and I need to change her diaper.”
Lily and McDowell, the son of actress Mary Steenburgen, have been together since 2019. They tied the knot in September 2021. McDowell also directed Lily in 2022’s Windfall.
“Weirdly, there were moments when I forgot that we were together because the way in which he directs, he such a communicative and collaborative director that is all about how the actor feels and grounding it in truth and someone that you feel very safe with [and] in an environment where you’re the most vulnerable,” she said on CBS Mornings in March 2022. “That’s what you want in a life partner and it is what you want as an actor in your director.”
Lily continued at the time, “He treats everyone the same, and there were very few of us in the cast so we all had a very intimate, collaborative experience that sometimes I would forget that it was my Charlie as opposed to Charlie-my-director. It was so fun.”
