Eminem’s road to recovery began in December 2007 when he almost died from a drug overdose. After a night of heavy using, Em collapsed in his bathroom was rushed to the hospital. Doctors informed him he’d consumed the equivalent of four bags of heroin and was “about two hours from dying.”
As a result, Slim Shady ultimately decided to put the prescription drugs down 11 years ago and he’s been clean ever since. He celebrated the milestone on Saturday (April 20) with a Twitter post of his 11-year coin from a 12-step program.
“11 years,” he wrote in the caption. “still not afraid.”
To help him stay clean, Slim Shady became an avid runner. His weight had ballooned to 230 pounds while he was using and he was surviving on a steady diet of fast food. At one point, he was running up to 17 miles a day.
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According to a 2015 Billboard article, Em opened up to Men’s Journal about how he combated addiction with exercise.
“The coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I’d been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating — and eating badly,” he explained. “I got an addict’s brain, and when it came to running, I think I got a little carried away.
“I became a fucking hamster. Seventeen miles a day on a treadmill. I would get up in the morning, and before I went to the studio, I would run eight and a half miles in about an hour. Then I’d come home and run another eight and a half.”
Now, he reportedly juggles running with intense workout DVDs.
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“I guess I’m pretty compulsive working out,” he said. “I feel like if I step away from it for too long, if I have a crazy week and take a five-day break, it’ll be like starting over. I’m afraid that if it goes beyond that, I might lose the motivation.
“Once you’re at a place where you’ve made progress and you’ve got some time invested in it, you don’t wanna quit and give up what you started.”
Eminem’s latest album, Kamikaze,was released last August. He’s since been touring the world in support of the project, breaking attendance records in the process. He also sold more albums than any other artist in 2018.
