Golden Globe-nominated actor Lily Collins is releasing a book of personal essays today. Titled Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, it includes plenty of personal stories and reflections on body image, self-confidence, family, the travails of dating, and much more. Vanity Fair reports that tucked in Unfiltered is an open letter to her dad, Phil Collins. Lily uses the letter as an opportunity to "forgive" her father for falling short of her expectations and what she thought a dad should be.
"I forgive you for not always being there when I needed and for not being the dad I expected," she wrote, according to the Daily Mail. "I forgive the mistakes you made. And although it may seem like it's too late, it's not. There's still so much time to move forward."
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Lily's mother, Jill Tavelman, was Phil Collins' second wife. While rumors indicated that Phil broke up with Tavelman via fax, he's vehemently denied it. In her letter, Lily writes that her parents' divorce, as well as Phil's subsequent divorce with Lily's stepmother, Orianne Cevey, hit her hard and that she may have developed anorexia and bulimia to cope.
"I couldn't handle the pain and confusion surrounding my dad's divorce, and I was having a hard time balancing being a teenager with pursuing two different grown-up careers," she added. "Many of my deepest insecurities stem from these issues with my dad."
She concluded the letter by forgiving her father and acknowledging that it was time for both of to move forward together. It's a powerful sentiment, and goes to show that sometimes, writing down your feelings and facing them head-on may be the best way to work through them.
"We all make choices and, although I don't excuse some of yours, at the end of the day we can't rewrite the past. I’m learning how to accept your actions and vocalize how they made me feel," she wrote. "I accept and honor the sadness and anger I felt toward the things you did or didn't do, did, or didn't give me."