Today Eminem celebrates 12 years of sobriety.
It’s been 12 years since the Detroit rapper Eminem became sober, who was once taking up to 60 Valium and 30 Vicodin pills a day during the peak of his drug addiction. In the last couple of years, Eminem has been celebrating sobriety by sharing his ‘Unity Service & Recovery‘ coin which is rewarded to Alcoholics Anonymous members and other 12 step program users after key points in their recovery. “11 years – still not afraid,” Eminem wrote in the caption last year.
11 years – still not afraid. pic.twitter.com/A8TV0LsLfn
— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) April 20, 2019
Back in 2011, Eminem talked about his 2007 methadone overdose and said, “The doctors told me I’d done the equivalent of four bags of heroin. They said I was about two hours from dying.”
In an interview with Men’s Journal Magazine in 2015, Eminem revealed that he was over 200 pounds when he admitted to the hospital in 2007. “In 2007, I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital,” said Eminem. “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.”
During his recovery process, he used to run 17 miles a day on a treadmill. “I got an addict’s brain, and when it came to running, I think I got a little carried away. I became a f**king hamster,” said Eminem. “Seventeen miles a day on a treadmill. I would get up in the morning, and before I went to the studio, I would run eight and a half miles in about an hour. Then I’d come home and run another eight and a half. I started getting OCD about calories, making sure I burned 2,000 every day. In the end, I got down to about 149 pounds. I ran to the point where I started to get injured. All the constant pounding from the running began to tear up my hip flexors.”
He also revealed that Elton John helped him get sober. “He usually calls me once a week to check on me, just to make sure I’m on the up-and-up,” said Eminem about Elton John. “He was actually one of the first people I called when I wanted to get clean.”
A few years ago, Eminem’s fellow rapper Royce da 5’9″ also revealed that Eminem helped him get sober too. “Eminem helped me all the way through,” said Royce. “He was one of the first people I called. I let him know I needed help. I came back to Detroit and he, Tracy McNew, and Paul Rosenberg at Shady Records checked me into this hospital and I went and saw Em’s doctor.”
Let’s see if Eminem celebrates his sobriety by sharing something on his social media today as well.
UPDATE: Eminem shares the 12th-year sobriety coin of ‘Unity Service Recovery’.
Royce Da 5’9 is what you’d call a “ride-or-die” pal. The lifelong Eminem fan is demonstrating his support for the diamond-selling MC and his road to recovery once more. On Monday (April 20), the Slaughterhouse vet uploaded an Instagram snap of his Bad Meets Evil co-star holding his 10-year AA chip but writing “12” over the front of it to signify Em’s 12th year of sobriety will be in 2020.
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