Eminem celebrates 10 years of being sober with an extremely inspirational photo
Rapper and musician Eminem is celebrating an entire decade of sobriety, and it proves how others can take inspiration from his hard journey to quit addiction. The 45-year-old rapper shared a photo on Instagram on Saturday to share the news with his millions of fans and followers on social media.
"Celebrated my 10 years yesterday," Eminem captioned the photo of him holding up a 10-year AA chip, a token he received in recognition of his remarkable achievement.
The rapper, who had been busy headlining sets at Coachella, has been extremely candid about his struggles with substance abuse, ever since he had a near-death experience from an accidental overdose back in 2007. “I used to get pills wherever I could,” he told the New York Times in 2011. “I was just taking anything that anybody was giving to me.”
In an interview with Men’s Journal in 2015, the rapper, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, admitted, "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."
"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," he shared at the time.
The 8 Mile actor, after the terrible incident, got himself checked into rehab in 2008 and started the 12-step program. He previously used to wear a Sobriety Circle & Triangle Symbol necklace used by Alcoholic Anonymous and was seen with those on him at the Grammy Awards in 2011 during his performance on stage.
In a previous interview with GQ he talked about his addiction quite candidly. "The thing sobriety has taught me the most," he says, "is the way I’m wired—why my thought process is so different. ...But that’s the biggest thing about addiction: When you realize that you cannot—for f**k’s sake, you can not—f**k around with nothing ever again. I never understood when people would say it’s a disease. Like, ’Stop it, d**khead. It’s not a disease!’ But I finally realized, F**k, man—it really is."
