Eminem has been sober for 10 years.
The ‘Lose Yourself’ hitmaker took to his Twitter account on Saturday (21.08.18) to announced that it has been a decade since he last touched drugs and alcohol.
Celebrated my 10 years yesterday. pic.twitter.com/Xmm9MOIEam
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) April 22, 2018
The 45-year-old rapper has been very open about his battle with addiction over the years and admitted it was his three children; Alaina, 24, Hailie, 22, and Whitney, 16, who made him ditch the bottle and pills once and for all because he wanted to see them grow up.
Eminem – who real name is Marshall Mathers – overdosed on methadone in December 2007 and ended up in hospital but it wasn’t until a relapse a month later that he realized that he was going to end up dead if he didn’t change his habits and face his demons.
He said: “Had I got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died. My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. They were going to have to put me on dialysis. They didn’t think I was going to make it. My bottom was going to be death. Within a month I had relapsed … and I was just walking around my house thinking every single day, I’m going to f**king die. I’m looking at my kids, and I need to be here for this.”
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During the height of his addiction, Eminem saw his weight balloon to 230lbs and attributes the gain to trying to relieve stomach ache brought on by the discomfort caused by drugs such as Vicodin and Valium.
He said recently: “In 2007, I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital. I was close to 230 pounds. I’m not sure how I got so big, but I have ideas. The coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I’d been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating — and eating badly.”
After leaving rehab, Eminem was determined to tackle his problems by exercising but quickly found himself with a new addiction – running.
He said: “When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober. Unless I was blitzed out of my mind, I had trouble sleeping. So I started running. It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep, so it was perfect. It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another but one that’s good for them. I got an addict’s brain, and when it came to running, I think I got a little carried away.”
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