Author: Charles Frank

Eminem Bounces Back from 20-Pill-a-Day Addiction

It took a near-death experience for Eminem to finally realize that he needed help with his drug addiction that, at one point, had him taking 75 to 80 Valium a night. Eminem’s provocative lyrics, littered with homophobic and sexist rhymes and profanity-laden attacks on all manner of public figures, caused a scandal. He transformed this controversy into a platform for his alter ego, Slim Shady, who became one of the great antiheroes of his time. The mainstream media branded him a “public menace” and theorized about the reasons for his excesses. When criticism threatened to slow down his rise to the top, the Detroit rapper turned to allies such as Elton John, the first big, socially acceptable global star to dare to defend and legitimize the Eminem’s lyrics and talent.

You can watch Eminem’s interview from the film by scrolling down the page and clicking ‘play’. But he was also at the height of his drug addiction, as that’s when he overdosed — and according to Billboard, he tipped the scales at 230 lbs when he was in the throes of his addiction. Eminem has been sober for 13 years, and has been in the rap game for even longer. In a new essay shared by XXL on Wednesday (Sept. 14), the rapper opens up about every step of his come-up, his struggle with addiction when he became famous and his future goals.

“I don’t know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more,” explains Eminem in the two-and-a-half minute snippet.” The rapper then talks about how he never felt he had a problem with drugs as he wasn’t “out there shooting heroin”, but admits he was hooked on Vicodin, Valium and Xanax. Eminem’s rise to stardom, back in 1999, made him a scourge of the syrupy late-nineties pop scene. But he also managed to alter stereotypes about the criminality of the rap genre in the eyes of the general public.

His success shot to a new level in 2002 when he emerged as a cinematographic rebel without a cause, but with a hoodie, in the semi-autobiographical movie 8 Mile, which earned him an Academy Award for best original song. The article comes not long after Em shared his experience of a near-fatal drug overdose 15 years ago in an interview with Paul Rosenberg. ““It took a long time for my brain to start working again,” Em said of his accidental overdose on methadone. Shifting his attention to where he sees himself in the world of hip-hop these days, he said he simply strives to “always try to be the best rapper.” “I can’t do that until I listen to what the fuck J.

“I don’t know how many times we did it, but it was so easy to go back and forth to do it,” he said. The last time he went to Tijuana to pick up, they witnessed the vehicle in front of them getting pulled over and searched. “We were scared shitless, but we got through,” he continued. “And when I say we had the motherlode. Our pants were frickin’ stuffed with pills. I don’t know how many we had.”

At the time he started recording the album, Eminem noted that he was still in withdrawal following the overdose, and taking “75 to 80 Valium a night.” The Grammy winner also mentioned Rosenberg being very concerned at the time that he might have suffered permanent brain damage. Eminem asked, “Didn’t you ask the doctors when I started recording new shit, 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? ‘” The podcast host confirmed that he was in fact concerned during the recovery process that there might be some “permanent problems” with his health. Eminem was eventually hospitalised in December 2007 following a methadone overdose, with doctors telling him he had ingested the equivalent of four bags of heroin. In a recent interview for manager Paul Rosenberg’s podcast, he discussed having to relearn how to rap following the overdose.

Ultimately, Eminem got clean and sober, and he detailed this sobriety in the album “Recovery.” Read on to discover how Eminem achieved and maintained his sobriety. Eventually, Eminem lost 90 lbs and, per Billboard, he weighs 140 lbs today. “I had f—in’ 10 drug dealers at one time that I’m getting my s— from. Seventy-five to 80 Valiums a night, which is a lot.” The documentary, directed by Matthew Cooke and co-produced with Entourage‘s Adrian Grenier, delves into the seedy drug underworld and features interviews with drug dealers, DEA agents as well as celebrities including 50 Cent, Woody Harrelson and Susan Sarandon.

Inside Eminem’s History With Drugs

What the fuck did Kendrick just put out,” he said. “I’ll hear some shit by them, and I’ll be like, Yo, I ain’t the best rapper right now. Eminem opened up about the way his struggle with drug addiction was a constant, if unseen, presence throughout much of his early career in a new as-told-to in XXL. 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. The ‘Recovery’ rapper speaks about his addiction to prescription medicine in a clip from the documentary How To Make Money Selling Drugs, which was released in selected US cinemas last week and is available via iTunes.

Eminem has openly discussed his drug addiction and the time he overdosed in a new documentary. “Just after Proof died, I was in my house by myself, and I was just laying in bed and I couldn’t move and I just kept staring at the ceiling fan. I literally couldn’t walk for two days when that happened and eventually my drug use fuckin’ skyrocketed. While Em was able to “downplay” his addiction for some time, it reached a tumultuous point in the period between 2000’s ‘The Marshall Mathers LP’ and 2004 album ‘Encore’, when the rapper was taking a mixture of Vicodin, Valium and alcohol, as well as Ambien before performances. 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. Early in his career, he said him and some friends frequently went to Tijuana, Mexico to purchase drugs such as Vicodin.

Eminem Reflects on Career and Battling Drug Addiction: ‘I Don’t Know How the F*ck I’m Still Here’

He dominated the portable CD players of turn-of-the-century youth, who emulated his style by dying their hair blonde and donning tank tops and oversized pants. “If I had been black, I wouldn’t have sold even half of it,” he acknowledged in one of his songs. Em’s substance abuse escalated following the death of the rapper’s friend and D12 bandmate Proof in 2006, when he says his addiction “went through the fuckin’ roof”. Em recounts one point shortly after Proof’s death, when he fell over in his bathroom and woke up in a hospital “with fucking tubes in me and shit”, unable to talk or understand what had happened.

1. The playlists, good reads and video interviews you need—delivered every week.
2. Ultimately, Eminem got clean and sober, and he detailed this sobriety in the album “Recovery.” Read on to discover how Eminem achieved and maintained his sobriety.
3. I just remember liking it more and more,” explains Eminem in the two-and-a-half minute snippet.” The rapper then talks about how he never felt he had a problem with drugs as he wasn’t “out there shooting heroin”, but admits he was hooked on Vicodin, Valium and Xanax.
4. “I don’t know how the fuck I’m still here. I was numbing myself.”
5. Eminem was eventually hospitalised in December 2007 following a methadone overdose, with doctors telling him he had ingested the equivalent of four bags of heroin.

In an interview with Vibe (via The Hindu), Eminem revealed that, at one point, he overdosed on methadone. A friend had given him the drug, which is used to wean heroin addicts off of the drug, and he would not have taken it had he known it was methadone. “[My] doctor told (me that) the amount of methadone (I’d) taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin,” he said. “Had I known it was methadone, I probably wouldn’t have taken it.” The “heaviest” period of drug addiction spanned five years of his life, and he hit a rough patch after his D12 bandmate Proof died.

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Earlier this month, Em won a Creative Arts Emmy Award for his part in this year’s Super Bowl half-time show, taking him one step closer to EGOT status. The playlists, good reads and video interviews you need—delivered every week.

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“I had fuckin’ 10 drug dealers at one time that I’m getting my shit from. Seventy-five to 80 Valiums a night, which is a lot,” he added. “I don’t know how the fuck I’m still here. I was numbing myself.” But, despite his overwhelmingly successful career, Eminem — like many artists before him — fell into the trappings of drug addiction. In a candid new interview, rap superstar Eminem reveals he suffered from a devastating drug addiction that led to him downing as many as 20 Vicodin, Ambien and Valium in a day. Shortly after detoxing, he suffered a knee injury that required surgery, but because of his drug abuse, he was not prescribed pain killers.

In the piece penned for XXL, Em discusses the way that “everything changed” after he signed with Interscope and released his second studio album, 1999’s ‘The Slim Shady LP’. He describes how after he first relocated to Los Angeles, he and friends would go to Tijuana to purchase drugs such as Vicodin. Eminem has opened up about his former struggles with drug addiction in a personal new essay. He stressed that it’s important for rappers to study what’s going on in hip-hop, and that it would foolish for him to ignore what some of the best rappers out are doing. 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.