Eminem celebrates 12 years of sobriety.
The 47-year-old rapper, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, took to social media to post a photo of a sobriety coin marking his decade-long journey.
"Clean dozen, in the books! I’m not afraid.", The Real Slim Shady rapper captioned the photo.
The coin, which is given to Alcoholics Anonymous members when they’ve hit a milestone, features a Roman numeral X on it along with the words "service," "unity," and "recovery."
Eminem had nearly died from an accidental overdose in 2007. The 8 Mile actor opened up about his history with addiction in an interview with Men’s Journal in 2015.
“In 2007, I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital,” he said. “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 stomach ache, I was constantly eating — and eating badly.”
He said that he was able to stay clean by focusing on exercise.
“When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober,” he shared. “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.”
Eminem checked himself into rehab in 2008 and started the 12-step program. In 2009, after a five-year hiatus from his music career, he released the album 'Relapse'.
In 2010, Eminem released his album 'Recovery', which featured the songs 'Won’t Back Down' ft. Pink, 'Not Afraid' and 'Love the Way You Lie' featuring Rihanna.
Since his return with 2009’s 'Relapse', 2010’s 'Recovery', 2013's 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2', 2017's 'Revival' and 2018's 'Kamikaze' Eminem has avoided the spotlight for the most part. His latest album 'Music to Be Murdered By' was released in January 2020.