Eminem Opens Up About Getting Sober Over a Decade After His Near-Fatal Drug Overdose

In an extensive piece for XXL Magazine, Eminem has offered a look back on his place in hip-hop and opened up about his struggles with drug addiction. Em goes on to recount one story from that time period, when he performed for BET’s 106 & Park with 50 Cent and G-Unit and was interviewed afterwards. Eminem has opened up about his former struggles with drug addiction in a personal new essay. By the time he left rehab, Eminem weight had ballooned to 230 pounds. He knew he needed to lose weight and to find a way to function sober. Thus, he turned to running, which gave him a natural high and helped him sleep at the same time.

• Throughout his career, Eminem’s controversial work has attracted both criticism and accolades.
• Recovery showcases a more mature, more tolerant Eminem.
• I still had “Like Toy Soldiers” and a few that I did feel good about, but I knew in my heart of hearts, this is not the same quality as The Eminem Show.
• It’s Eminem’s 50th birthday, and as the iconic rapper reaches a major milestone, he also had another impressive anniversary this year.

“That was the first time I ever realized I had a problem with drugs and alcohol⁠,” Cooper recalled during a 2022 appearance on the Smartless podcast. After a short visit to rehab, a 2007 overdose and a relapse shortly after, the “Stan” rapper sought the guidance of a rehab counselor and has remained sober since 2008. Although it wasn’t easy, sobriety was a pivotal decision in Eminem’s life. Read Eminem’s cover story in the 25th anniversary issue of XXL magazine, on newsstands at the end of September 2022. Check out additional interviews in the magazine with Yung Miami, Bobby Shmurda, JID, GloRilla, Yvngxchris, Sleazyworld Go, Styles P, Jim Jones, Symba, Reason, singer Jessie Reyez, actor Trevante Rhodes and music executive Katina Bynum. The album comes out and it was definitely a wake-up call, a slap in the face, a sobering moment, because I was on a roll and then somehow, I got off this roll.

• “And it just felt so extreme to have to say, ‘But none?’ But none. If you’re allergic to something or have an anaphylactic reaction to something, you don’t argue with it. So I stopped arguing with it.”
• I’m 24 years old and I got a baby to take care of and all I want to do is rap, but it didn’t look good.
• “I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction,” she wrote on Instagram two weeks later.
• “I felt like I did a lot of growing up, and I don’t really feel like the last album really reflected where I was at mentally,” he says.

In this interview, Mathers discussed how his wealth and fame from his early success funded his drug addiction problem. At his lowest point, he was taking between 75 to 80 Valium pills per night. Famous rapper and music icon Marshall Mathers, better known as Eminem, struggled with drug abuse from 1999 to 2008. He abused Valium, Vicodin, Ambien, and alcohol, sometimes taking tens of pills a night.

Although the Parenthood alum knows that “one of the things that you’re not supposed to do is get sober for somebody else,” his relationship with now-wife Melanie Lynskey was a major reason that led him to swearing off alcohol. After publicly celebrating six years of sobriety on tour in 2018, the singer stunned fans later that same year with the release of the confessional single “Sober,” which revealed that she had relapsed. In September 2023, the Cruel Intentions alum shared on Instagram that this was “the longest I’ve gone since I was a teen without some kind of nicotine or marijuana in my system (among other things).” The A Star Is Born actor struggled with a cocaine addiction during the early aughts before friend Will Arnett stepped in and confronted him out about his behavior. She attended her first meeting on Feb. 3, 1999, the same day she revealed her struggle to her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest. “He was incredulous that he’d never noticed,” Curtis said, adding that she’s been sober ever since.

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According to the New York Times, he checked himself into rehab early that year and started the full 12-step program of a recovering addict. This helped him improve his overall physical and mental health, and he developed the tools he needed to overcome his addiction. Through perseverance in rehab, Eminem confronted demons and relearned how to rap without dependency’s grip. In 20072, Eminem hit rock bottom when he overdosed on methadone and was rushed to the hospital. This was a wake-up call for him, and he realized he needed to take his addiction seriously to continue making music and living his life.

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“My addiction didn’t start in my early days when I was coming up,” he explained in a personal essay for XXL in September 2022. “My drug usage started at the beginning of that first album.” One of those changes was that drugs became a part of the way I was living my life once I got signed. When I first came out to L.A., me and some guys I was hanging out with used to go to Tijuana and we would buy drugs. I don’t know how many times we did it, but it was so easy to go back and forth to do it.

I didn’t know where to fuckin’ pick things back up and I was angry at a lot of things, including the songs leaking because it changed the entire landscape of that album. I still had “Like Toy Soldiers” and a few that I did feel good about, but I knew in my heart of hearts, this is not the same quality as The Eminem Show. Eminem’s struggles with addiction affected his music career. He recounted being high on drugs during the recording of his album Encore, a record met with criticism from fans and the media. It wasn’t until 2008 that Eminem decided he wasn’t about to lose himself to drugs.

“I discuss it every now and then when it makes sense. I’m 39 years sober. I got sober Feb. 23, 1985.” The star of Hunt for Red October does not often speak to his sobriety journey, which began almost forty years ago. Since making the lifestyle change, Holland noticed he “could sleep better” and “handle problems better.” “And then you would just reach that moment where you’re like ‘Wow, I shouldn’t have had that last beer,'” the actor continued.

In interviews, Eminem opened up about struggles going to extensive lengths to fuel addiction, recalling in interviews about trips to Tijuana to purchase drugs1. Eminem recently celebrated 14 years free of a growing drug addiction that marked his early fame. As global success brought overwhelming stress, he turned to prescription pills like valium and opioids. One of Eminem’s most prominent struggles has been his drug addiction, which he has battled throughout his career. The Parent Trap actor battled a cocaine addiction throughout the ’80s that sent him to rehab in 1990.

The Firm album had just come out and “Phone Tap” was one of the greatest beats ever made to me. I remember saying, “If I could just get with Dre, man, my God that’d be so crazy. He’s so fuckin’ ill.” Three weeks later, I was at Dre’s house. That was a fun album to make, but it’s also where everything suddenly changed.

I was more so worried about what people think about the album. Critics and fans were important to me, and they were always at me about that project. According to the rapper, if he made it to the hospital just two hours later, he would have died from the drug overdose. His organs—liver, kidneys, and everything else—were already shutting down.

Did Eminem Go To Rehab?

I didn’t get my own house until the second album. I wasn’t sure before then if this was a one-time thing, but I had people knocking on the door and I realized that it was getting crazy. That was one of the inspirations for writing “Stan.” It was like, These people are actually looking up to me? So, it inspired songs like “Stan” because to have fans is a dream come true, but it’s also so bizarre and so surreal. Even as I sit here now, I still trip out in my head about how it got to this level.

Down the Path of Drug Dependence

The strangest and probably the greatest thing that’s happened to me over these past 25 years in a professional sense was getting to meet all my heroes. It took me a long time to get over meeting Dre. When he walked into the room at Interscope, I was like, What the fuckin’ fuck? And then getting to meet people like Treach, Redman, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Masta Ace, Rakim.

Eminem: A ‘Relapse’ Of Horror?

Articles and interviews suggest that Eminem committed to sobriety after his near-fatal overdose, motivated by the life-threatening experience and responsibility to his family. In 2006, Mathers’ former bandmate and friend Proof Mathers died from a shooting incident. Mathers’ drug abuse worsened at this time, and he recounted how he had about 10 drug dealers at eminem addiction this time. The song emphasises the rapper’s struggle to cope with fame after being discovered by Dr Dre in 1997.

His experiences are real, and he’s had ups and downs in terms of recovery. “I was in a really dark place. I felt like it was over for me … professionally,” Eminem says. Entering rehab once again, Eminem finally committed to change. It took painful reflections before clarity emerged after years of being numbed by addiction. During his time in rehab, Eminem underwent a rigorous detox program that included counseling, therapy, and other forms of support. He also embraced a new, healthier lifestyle, which included regular exercise and a more nutritious diet.

“Sobriety, clarity, and spiritual connectedness feels real good.” In 2018, the Halloween star got very candid about her 10-year addiction to opiates, which began in the late ’80s after a minor plastic surgery “for my hereditary puffy eyes.” The reslt was a prescription that changed her life. “I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving,” she told People. “For the last eight weeks maybe, I don’t really know…I’m on them all day,” he said on his Armchair Expert podcast. “And I’m allowed to be on them at some dosage because I have a prescription and then I’m also augmenting that.”

“There are a lot of rappers who have complicated rhyme schemes that are out today, that have been out over the years.” In an interview with Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz, Eminem says he struggled with addiction throughout his career. His drug habit intensified in recent years and even led to an overdose in December 2007. Eminem’s recovery brought profound challenges, including intense addiction cravings, cues from fame, and painful relapses. For years, he confronted demons threatening his renewed passion for music. It took painful relapses and reflections before Eminem relearned how to rap without dependency’s grip.

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