Lily Collins reveals her family THANKED her for getting engaged to Charlie McDowell

Lily Collins has admitted her family thanked her when she got engaged to fiancé Charlie McDowell. 

The actress, 31, who is the daughter of musician Phil Collins and his ex-wife Jill Tavelman, told how her loved ones were equally thrilled because they have something to ‘look forward to’ with their forthcoming wedding.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, she said: ‘It’s so funny when we got engaged, so many friends and family were like, “Thank you”.

‘I’m like, “Why?” They’re like, “Thank you for giving us something to look forward to.” I’m like, “Oh yeah, we totally did it for you guys.” But it has been… yeah, I’m very grateful. I’m grateful for a lot of things right now.’

Lily and her director fiancé, 37, whose parents are actors Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, are enjoying the early stages of wedding planning.

She said: ‘It’s like, this is like a fun part. You get to think about all those things, you know, as a young girl, thinking like, “Ooh, what do I want one day?” It’s like, now you get to actually play and have conversations about it.’

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the star has had a busy year and admitted it has been a ‘huge gift’ to have both her series Emily in Paris and new movie Mank streaming around the world via Netflix.

She said: ‘You know, I think it’s been a really interesting time to self-reflect and to think about prioritising, and kind of just thinking about so much stuff while we’ve been at home, and to be able to bring two projects to people right now through Netflix globally is a huge gift.

‘And to make people laugh and smile with Emily in Paris, God knows that’s what we all need to do more of right now, and then with Mank, I feel like there’s a nostalgia for the world that once was that we’re already all feeling, so there’s that way to connect with people through that.’

The Mirror Mirror actress confirmed her engagement on Instagram in September.

Posting a picture of the pair kissing while Lily showed off her ring, the Surrey-born actress wrote: ‘I’ve been waiting my lifetime for you and I can’t wait to spend our lifetime together.’

Lily previously confirmed she and Charlie were dating by making their romance Instagram official back in 2019.

And just a few months later, the couple adopted a rescue dog named Redford – who is ‘a mix of a few different breeds’ – together after they fell in love when they saw him at the Love Leo Rescue in Los Angeles, California. 

Prior to romancing Lily, writer and director Charlie was previously in a relationship with Game of Thrones’actress Emilia Clarke.

Lily has previously dated Jamie Campbell Bower and sparked romance rumours with Zac Efron.