Eminem shared a photo on Saturday, April 20, marking 11 years of sobriety.
The rapper, 46, posted a photo of his hand holding the medallion he received to commemorate the milestone.
“11 years — still not afraid,” the “Lose Yourself” rapper, captioned the pic, which showed the coin from Alcoholics Anonymous stamped with the words “To thine own self be true” as well as “Unity,” “Service” and “Recovery.”
His 8 Mile costar Taryn Manning, who played his ex-girlfriend Janeane in the 2002 film, commented on his Instagram post, writing, “Rad dude! Teach me your ways. The most admiration. You did it! And can still write like a fkn beast! Proud!”
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, almost died from an accidental overdose in 2007, and opened up about his struggle with addiction in an interview with Men’s Journal in 2015.
“In 2007, I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital,” he said. “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 stomach ache, I was constantly eating — and eating badly.”
He checked himself into rehab in 2008 and admitted that he focused on exercise after he came home from treatment.
“When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober,” he said. “Unless I was blitzed out of my mind, I had trouble sleeping. So I started running. It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep, so it was perfect. It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another but one that’s good for them.”
The rapper, who told The New York Times in 2010 that he was taking up to 20 pills a day as his addiction to Vicodin, Valium, Ambien and Methadone spiraled, has credited his kids with his recovery.
“I love them so much and they’ve helped me through so many things,” he told The Times of his biological daughter, Hailie Jade, and his two adopted daughters, Lainey and Whitney.
He also addressed his overdose on his 2017 album Revival, reciting three letters he’d written to Hailie Jade in the song “Castle.” The first two were written before his daughter was born, while the last one, dated Christmas Eve 2007, found the rapper struggling to finish the letter as he battled his addiction.
“If things should worsen, don’t take this letter I wrote,” he rapped. “As a goodbye note, ’cause your dad’s at the end of his rope.”
