Phil Collins' fax divorce was a lesson for Lily

Lily Collins vowed to keep her private life under wraps after witnessing the global furore over her rocker dad Phil's infamous "fax divorce" when she was a child.

The former Genesis singer split from his second wife, Lily's mother Jill Tavelman, in the early 1990s and their 12-year marriage was formally ended in 1996.

The messy split made headlines around the world in 1993 when it emerged Collins was using fax messages to communicate with his estranged wife as they thrashed out details of the divorce.

Now model/actress Lily, who was just four years old at the height of the scandal, has revealed she is determined to keep her own love life as secretive as possible.

Collins, who is dating Twilight actor Jamie Campbell Bower, tells Glamour magazine, "I don't feel the need to profess anything publicly or confirm something that in a normal situation you wouldn't have to speak about. If I'm out and I'm photographed with someone, then it is what it is...

"That's always been my natural feeling. My family went through a lot of public situations and I saw that side of it from a very young age."