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. Eminem made his first visit to rehab, but a 2007 overdose and another relapse quickly followed it. In 2008, the rapper worked with a rehab counselor to get help and has been sober ever since.
Near Fatal Overdose
“Clean dozen, in the books,” he captioned the snap of his coin at the time. Loved ones couldn’t help but share their excitement about the occasion, with longtime manager Paul Rosenberg writing, “Sweet 16. So proud of you.” Younger brother Nathan Mathers commented, “Greatest Influence and Mentor.” The incident led him to seek other medication, including Vicodin, to help him relax at the end of the day and help him get some sleep. Eminem acknowledged that all the pain he was feeling seemed to go away after taking the pill. He is also an example of how dangerous Twelve-step program prescription drugs can be.
Eminem Got Sober 17 Years Ago After Realizing ‘I’m Going to Die If I Don’t Do Something’
Despite this, both hinted that a reconnection was possible. Rap icon Eminem reveals that a near-fatal drug overdose was the wake-up call that finally inspired him to get sober after years of drug addiction. His addiction to prescription pills soon took over his life, and he recalls the moment he nearly died after taking an overdose. My liver, kidneys, everything… They didn’t think I was going to make it. Eminem has been sober since April 20, 2008, according to a 2020 Twitter post, and made his 2009 album Relapse during the early days of recovery.
- 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).”
- Eminem’s recovery brought profound challenges, including intense addiction cravings, cues from fame, and painful relapses.
- He has been a member of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and has credited the program with helping him overcome his substance abuse issues.
“I haven’t made a song about this, this, this. I can make a song about this.” The more you paint on that canvas, all of the sudden, you’ve made a song about every single thing you can fuckin’ possibly think of. If I had a choice between being the best rapper or making the best albums, I’d rather be the best rapper. Obviously, all of that is subjective, and everybody’s got their favorite rappers, but in my head, I would rather do that than just make good songs. One of those changes was that drugs became a part of the way I was living my life once I got signed.
Eminem Details Past Overdose, Addiction Struggles in New Documentary
Eminem is celebrating his 16th year of sobriety since overcoming an addiction to alcohol and drugs during the late ’00s. Eminem is a reminder of the powerful impact professional rehabilitation can have on someone’s life. Getting professional help is often the change a person needs to successfully commit to sobriety. However, those around him slowly started to notice he had an issue. Eminem recalls doing an interview where he couldn’t answer any questions because he was on so many substances, so his fellow artists had to cover for him. A source shared with In Touch Weekly in September that Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, did not visit his mother even when she was “terminally ill” with lung cancer.
I was just taking anything that anybody was giving to me.” The hitmaker, 47, was also severely overweight at the peak of his addiction and has admitted that what drugs did eminem do he weighed close to 230 pounds as a result of overeating – after prescription drugs left him with a hole in his stomach. Even so, Eminem says that talking about his struggles — in songs like “Going Through Changes” — has been empowering. He says he’s turned the weaknesses he discussed on the album into strengths. 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.
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“I’ve discovered new verbiage, such as boundaries, never really had those,” he continued. “Now I have those, which is a blessing. AJ is a member of a group. He is a persona, but he doesn’t define me as an individual. Alexander James is who I am.” “I’m sticking this one out all the way,” he told People in July 2025. “It’s a daily thing. But I have finally done what has been suggested amongst the sober community, and my life has flipped in a positive way.” Read on for more stars who have gotten candid about their struggles with addiction. And while working on his 2009 album Relapse, which detailed his experience with sobriety, he felt empowered by his ability to leave his addiction behind.
“I don’t think I actually realized the totality of what had happened”, he said, “so after I got out of the hospital … when I got home, I went right back to using again. I felt like I had a really bad case of writer’s block. … Music is so therapeutic for me that if I can’t get it out, I start feeling bad about myself – a lot of self-loathing. Eminem has been open about his struggles with addiction throughout his career, with songs and complete albums revolving around the subject.
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When my first album came out, I was still staying wherever I could stay—mostly with Kim and her parents. 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.
- “And then one day he came in studio like, ‘Why yours is different color than mine?’ It killed me.”
- I was realizing I’m getting addicted to these fuckin’ pills.
- Following the overdose, Paul was concerned about possible brain damage that Eminem may have suffered.
- “People around her aren’t even sure if Eminem is even aware of what is happening to his mother,” a source told In Touch Weekly at the time.
- Eminem actively gives back by showing the true reality of addiction – a disease he barely survived at the height of fame.
At the height of his career, while he was producing award-winning albums, he was battling alcohol and drug addiction. He even had an overdose that nearly cost him his life. But Eminem managed to get his life together and has successfully made his way through addiction recovery. “The pills I was taking, they had my mood really fucked up,” Eminem says. “It was making me depressed and, you know, it just became a vicious https://ecosoberhouse.com/ cycle of depression.” Feeling creatively bereft and physically numb, he didn’t see any way forward for himself as an artist.
He continues, “I realized I’m not embarrassed anymore about it, and I started treating sobriety like a superpower. I was proud of the fact that I could quit.” Eminem has openly discussed his drug addiction and the time he overdosed in a new documentary. “Didn’t you ask the doctors when I started recording new s—, when I first started rapping again, and sent it to you, didn’t you say, ‘I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have brain damage?’ ” he asked. “I remember when I first got sober and all the s— was out of my system, I remember just being, like, really happy and everything was f—g new to me again,” he said about making the album. “I didn’t take anything hard until I got famous,” he continued.
Eminem has also discussed his story of addiction in interviews. He’s an open book about his struggles and how he made it through to recovery. He even shares his sobriety coin on social media as he passes milestones (such as his latest 16-year mark). Marshall Bruce Mathers III is an American rapper, songwriter and record producer who works under the artist name Eminem. Considered one of the greatest rappers of all time, he’s thought to be the first white rapper to achieve mainstream success.