Eminem tells all in the new issue of Vibe. Wondered where he disappeared to or why he had such a lengthy hiatus? He was a pill poppin' fool!
Eminem reveals he suffered from a devastating drug addiction that led to him downing as many as 20 Vicodin, Ambien and Valium in a day. “The numbers got so high, I don’t even know what I was taking."
Following his first stint in rehab in 2005, the rapper, 36, tells VIBE he nearly overdosed after an acquaintance gave him unidentified blue pills, which a doctor later told him were actually methadone.
“My doctor told me the amount of methadone I’d taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin,” Eminem says, noting that had he known, “I probably wouldn’t have taken it. But as bad as I was back then, I can’t even say 100 percent for sure.”
Shortly after detoxing, he suffered a knee injury that required surgery, but because of his drug abuse, he was not prescribed pain killers.
“I started looking around my house to see if I had a stash box of Vicodin … I’m ransacking my house, finally find something in the basement, in a little napkin, seven and a half Vicodin – the big extra strength ones – and a few Valium.”
With his pill addiction spiraling out of control again, Eminem suffered his second relapse before accepting he suffered from drug addiction.
“It never once hit me that drug addiction runs in my family. Now that I understand that I’m an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it,” he says.
I have a newfound respect for Eminem. Many people find addiction to be too humiliating to even mention. It's refreshing that he's speaking out about it. Welcome back!
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May 4th, 2009 8:52 PM
He look semi crazy on this cover too... what gives. Can no one take a decent photo of this man?
May 4th, 2009 9:07 PM
Eminem does look like shit here and like he'd strangle me while we were having sex.
May 4th, 2009 9:10 PM
"...like he'd strangle me while we were having sex."
You know you'd love it, who you think you foolin'? :P
May 4th, 2009 9:11 PM
Maybe I would, I've never been strangled and f*cked simultaneously.
May 4th, 2009 9:50 PM
This is a typical magazine portrait of Eminem, but considering the solemn subject matter of that Vibe piece, I find his usual demeanor on that cover more fitting than ever.
Not only is Em a celebrity who is most likely concerned about how he's portrayed, but it also must have been even more difficult, yet cathartic for Em than the average person to detail his struggles of battling addiction to the mag writer. Addiction is so universally stigmatized and I am sure so painful to discuss for its various other sufferers (in many forms) worldwide, too, that Em's admission will probably provide an easier gateway for them to express themselves in the future.
I admire Em's bravery, and it will authenticate his image in fans' minds now. Job well done.
October 30th, 2009 5:23 PM
eminem is a fucking idoiot im 15 been listenin to him since he came out wit the slimshady lp started smoking weed at 7 poppin pills and shrooms at13 and coke at 14 because of my sickning home and family life...thank you eminem ill never stopp liatenin to you.......atleast you make me think 1 day ill be a rapper just like you