Eminem is celebrating his sweet sixteen of sobriety, taking to social media on 4/20 to share a symbol of his journey. The veteran rapper, famously candid about his battle with substance abuse, posted a photo of his hand holding a sobriety chip, symbolizing his commitment to recovery.
The coin displayed a tree image alongside the inscription “Unity Service Recovery.” Eminem chose to leave the Instagram post uncaptioned, quickly attracting a flood of congratulatory comments from fans celebrating the milestone.
“Well done and thanks for sharing the journey with us,” posted one denizen of Instagram. “BIG DEAL. Congrats man thanks for being an example,” another fan added.
In 2008, Eminem sought treatment for his dependency on substances like Vicodin, Ambien, and Valium. This decision followed a methadone overdose the rapper suffered a year earlier.
Eminem Shared His Struggles with Addiction in the Past
In 2022, Eminem shared his journey of addiction and recovery in an essay for XXL. He began using pills after the 1999 release of The Slim Shady LP, with his situation worsening following the success of 2002’s The Eminem Show and during the production of 2004’s Encore.
“I was able to downplay my addiction and hide it for a while until it got really bad,” he said at the time. “So, I’m coming off The Marshall Mathers LP and going into Encore when my addiction started to get bad. I was taking Vicodin, Valium, and alcohol. I kinda fell off the map a little bit and didn’t explain why I went away.”
“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,” he explained.
The 8 Mile star described a period of escalating drug use, taking an excessive amount of pills to the point of immobility. With a reliance on multiple dealers, his consumption reached up to 80 Valiums nightly. In 2007, a life-threatening methadone overdose served as a turning point for Eminem, leading him to embrace sobriety permanently.
Eventually, the rapper swapped out his addiction with a healthy daily habit.
“When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober,” Eminem told Men’s Journal back in 2015. “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,” he added. “One addiction for another but one that’s good for them.”