Phil Collins’ ex-wife Orianne Cevey allegedly paid $30,000 to a so-called “black magic expert” so she could “gain control” over him, newly released court papers say.
The rock artist is currently battling his ex in court as she attempts to collect half of the proceeds of their $40 million Miami home. Cevey says Collins promised her the money; he says that’s a lie. The pair divorced in 2008, then reunited briefly from 2016 until 2019 before she married Thomas Bates, 32, in August 2020.
The black magic claims come from a 2021 deposition of Cevey’s former head of security, Franck Pala, that was just made public, The New York Post reported. The employee testified under oath that Cevey intended to put “some substances” in her then-husband’s wine.
These unknown items were acquired from a man in Colombia who dabbled in “black magic.”
“Do you know anything about an effort to — I’m going to call it — poison Phil or give him unknown substances?” Collins’ attorney Jeffrey Fisher asked Pala.
“I heard about Mrs. Collins ask another employee of the house to do some kind of magical things and pay for the services, and in return, put some substances in white wine for Mr. Phil Collins … It’s like how you believe in black magic from Colombia, whatever you want to call it,” Pala replied.
The lawyer continued the same line of questioning, asking what Cevey was attempting when she was planning on “putting this black magic on Phil.”
Pala responded, “Maybe trying to empower herself over him.”
The Post confirmed that it was never made clear if Cevey received items from the Colombian person or attempted other black magic spells on Collins.
In April, Collins’ legal team claimed Cevey was guilty of “fraud on the court” as she tried to collect money from the Miami home sale.
“There are literally dozens of additional irreconcilable conflicts between [Cevey’s] position in this case and her pleadings, financial affidavit, and other documents filed in her 2016 divorce from her former husband Charles [Mejati].”
This is not the only legal issue Cevey faced this year. The 48-year-old was also under investigation by the Child Protective Investigative unit of Florida’s Department of Children and Families in January, Page Six reported.
Cevey’s 10-year-old son Andrea, whom she shares with her second husband Mejjati, was moved in with his father after she was accused of physically assaulting him and causing “toxic, causing emotional and mental instability for him,” court records said.
The filing said she battered the child, causing a concussion, plus exposed him to sexually explicit actions when she engaged in sexual acts in front of him with her third husband. The records show she “punched the child with a closed fist on the back of the head, causing the child to fall to the floor and giving the child a hematoma and a contusion.”
Cevey and Collins also share two children together, Matthew (17) and Nicholas (20).