Eminem Celebrates Major Sobriety Milestone
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Eminem celebrated a major milestone on his sobriety journey over the weekend, showing off his 16-year chip in an Instagram post. The 51-year-old rapper, also known as Marshall Mathers, has now been sober since 2008.
He didn't caption the post, but simply and solemnly shared a photo of the chip in his hand, which features the number 16 inside a triangle surrounded by the words "Unity," "Service," and "Recovery" written in a circle.
Fans piled in the comments to congratulate the "Lose Yourself" singer on the achievement. John Mayer, who has also been sober since 2016, likewise chimed in with a fist bump emoji in solidarity.
Eminem—who is an avid fitness buff—told Men's Journal in 2015 that he didn't find the motivation to get himself in shape until he got sober.
"In 2007, I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital. I was close to 230 pounds," he explained at the time. "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."
When he first got out of rehab, Eminem explained that he realized he needed to lose weight and figure out how to function sober, since he had trouble sleeping unless he was "blitzed" out of his mind.
"So I started running," he continued. "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."
However, because of his "addict's brain," Mathers said that he got a little carried away with running and was eventually doing 17 miles a day on the treadmill. He eventually got down to around 149 pounds but the running was taking a toll on body body and he began to tear up his hip flexors.
Since then, he found a balance with other workout plans such as Insanity, P90X, and Body Beast; but most importantly, it's helped him keep his sobriety on track.
