Eminem, the iconic 45-year-old rapper, recently celebrated his latest accomplishment on Instagram. Unbeknownst to most, the rapper had been battling with issues of alcohol addiction for the better part of his career thanks to the impact stardom had on his lifestyle.
He shared a photo of him holding up a medallion that was awarded to him after he achieved the worthy milestone. Eminem, real name Marshall Mathers, captioned the photo with the words “Celebrated my 10 years yesterday”
Notably, the medallion features an X inscribed in the middle, the Roman numeral for 10. Other words like ‘Recovery’, ‘Service’ and Unity surrounded the X numeral. The Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA tokens, are medallions/sobriety coins are handed out in the US to people battling addictions.
Previously, Eminem had shed light on the real motivator behind his decision to go to rehab. He had a near-death experience in 2007 from an accidental overdose that made him weigh up his priorities. His alcoholism had become so severe that he had to take up to 20 pills daily, just to stay afloat.
In an interview held in 2011, he admitted to having gotten used to taking pills all through the day that he would simply just take anything anyone gave him. His alcoholism had led to him taking prescription pills like Valium, Vicodin, and Ambien that proved to be almost fatal in the end.
So serious was the affliction that had he got to the hospital just two hours late, he would have died. This is because his organs were experiencing a major shutdown due to the clogging of prescription pills. Notably, his liver and kidney had started to fail him before he got treatment.
Remedy
Mathers credits his children, his biological daughter Hailie Jade plus his two adopted daughters, Whitney and Lainey for being instrumental to him getting back on the mend. He believes that their influence had a positive impact in the way he wanted to lead his life.
In addition, Eminem managed to replace his alcohol addiction with exercise. Definitely, the right move from a health perspective. He cites the need to lose weight and the desire to lead a sober life as being the key motivators for him to become a teetotaler right after he got out of rehab.
Admittedly, Eminem confessed that getting high on drugs helped him sleep. Incredibly, the running exercises he undertook managed to calm him sufficiently that he could afford sleep
Another important aspect of working out was that he was able to receive naturally produced endorphins that made him happy. As a substitute for drugs that produce endorphins with an associated downtime, the running decision was as good as any he has ever made.
Support
Recently, Eminem made a star headline appearance at Coachella
Right after his announcement, Eminem received support from all and sundry. Fellow rapper, Royce Da 59 tweeted out to Eminem expressing his delight. As per his tweet, Eminem was a mentor and he had nothing but support towards his sobriety move.
Elsewhere, numerous individuals also tweeted out their photos of with Alcoholics Anonymous medallions. All this to show solidarity with Eminem’s recent revelation that he was on the straight and narrow.
Eminem’s latest album release, Revival, features two tracks inspired by his road to recovery. Castle and Arose are used creatively to tell a narrative of just how sorry Eminem is for his mistakes during his earlier years. Tellingly, he seems to be having a direct conversation with his daughters.
After his admission to rehab, he successfully relapsed just a month later on. Incredibly, Eminem showed grit to finish his recuperation in a hospital bed and continue the detox process. Doing so allowed him to avoid the unnecessary attention that may have distracted his cleansing process.