Eminem revealed the emotional aftermath of his 2007 overdose and the guilt that followed after missing his daughter’s music recital during his recovery.
In the new documentary STANS, the Detroit rap icon recounted the moment he realized the toll his drug addiction had taken on his family life.
The film, which explores the complicated bond between Eminem and his audience, features a raw account of the rapper’s near-fatal experience with methadone in December 2007.
“I got into this vicious cycle of, ‘I’m depressed so I need more pills,’ and then your tolerance gets so high you end up overdosing,” he said in the film. “I woke up in the hospital and I didn’t know what the f### happened. It seemed like I fell asleep, and I woke up with tubes in me and s###. I wanted to get up. I couldn’t move. After the overdose, I came home going, ‘Yo, bro, I need something.’”
The turning point came when he discovered he had missed his daughter Hailie Jade’s first guitar recital. Hailie, now 29, has since built a career as a social media personality.
“The amount of guilt that I felt, I cried when I saw it because I was like, ‘Oh my God, I missed that,’” Eminem said. “Do you want to miss everything? If you can’t do it for yourself… then at least do it for them.”
The Hip-Hop legend has remained sober since April 2008, a milestone he has acknowledged publicly over the years.
Directed by Steven Leckart, STANS is currently screening in select theaters and will be available to stream on Paramount+ later this year.
The film takes its title from Eminem’s 2000 hit “Stan,” which has since become cultural shorthand for obsessive fandom.