Eminem Crosses New Sobriety Milestone Almost 17 Years After Near-Fatal Overdose

Drugs almost killed Marshall Mathers in 2007. Mathers, better known as rap juggernaut Eminem, developed an addiction to pain killers while filming 2002’s 8 Mile. While in the grips of the disease, Eminem took it too far one December evening and wound up in the hospital. He had been taking up to 20 pills a day before he got the wake up call he needed. Although it took him until April 20, 2008 to finally quit, he’s maintained his sobriety now for 16 years.

Eminem celebrated the milestone by posting a photo of his Alcoholics Anonymous coin to his social media accounts on Friday (April 20), although he didn’t include a caption. His peers, however, had plenty to say. Danny Boy of House of Pain, who also has several years of clean time under his belt, wrote, “God is good. Well done!” while longtime manager Paul Rosenberg said, “Sweet 16. Proud of you.”

Large Professor, photographer Kevin Mazur and actor Michael Pierino were among the many others congratulating him in the comment section of his Instagram post.

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Eminem opened up about his decision to get sober and how it affected his music during a 2022 episode of Rosenberg’s Paul Pod podcast.

“I remember when I first got sober and all the s### was out of my system, I remember just being, like, really happy and everything was f###### new to me again,” he said about making his 2009 album, Relapse. “It was the first album and the first time that I had fun recording in a long time. It was like the first time I started having fun with music again, and re-learning how to rap, you remember that whole process. It took a long time for my brain to start working again.”

Eminem certainly hasn’t had any trouble getting back in the studio in recent times. He’s released multiple albums over the course of the last several years, including 2018’s Kamikaze and 2020’s Music To Be Murdered By. In the meantime, he continues to be a beacon of hope for others who are struggling with the same plight.