Eminem celebrates 11 years of sobriety

American rapper Marshall Mathers, professionally known as Eminem. Picture: Reuters

American rapper Marshall Mathers, professionally known as Eminem. Picture: Reuters

Published Apr 22, 2019

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Eminem has celebrated being 11 years sober by sharing how he's "still not afraid".

The 'Lose Yourself' hitmaker took to his Instagram account on Saturday to celebrate not touching drugs and alcohol for more than a decade by posting a picture of his sobriety chip once again.

This time he added that he's "not afraid" - a nod to his song 'Not Afraid' from his 2010 LP 'Recovery'.

Alongside the photo, he wrote: "11 years - still not afraid."

View this post on Instagram

11 years - still not afraid.

A post shared by Marshall Mathers(@eminem) on Apr 20, 2019 at 8:48am PDT

Last year, he shared a picture of himself holding the coin, and wrote: "Celebrated my 10 years yesterday (sic)"

The 46-year-old rapper has been very open about his battle with addiction over the years and admitted it was his three children, Alaina, 25, Hailie, 23, and Whitney, 17, who made him ditch the bottle and pills once and for all because he wanted to see them grow up. 

Eminem - who real name is Marshall Mathers III - overdosed on methadone in December 2007 and ended up in hospital but it wasn't until a relapse a month later that he realised that he was going to end up dead if he didn't change his habits and face his demons. 

He said: "Had I got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died. My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. They were going to have to put me on dialysis. They didn't think I was going to make it. My bottom was going to be death.

"Within a month I had relapsed ... and I was just walking around my house thinking every single day, I'm going to f**king die. I'm looking at my kids, and I need to be here for this."

During the height of his addiction, Eminem saw his weight balloon to 230lbs and attributes the gain to trying to relieve stomach ache brought on by the discomfort caused by drugs such as Vicodin and Valium.

He said previously: "In 2007, I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital. I was close to 230 pounds. I'm not sure how I got so big, but I have ideas. 

"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."

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