Eminem celebrates 18 years of sobriety after near-fatal overdose
Eminem is celebrating 18 years sober.
The Detroit rapper almost lost his life in 2007 following a near-fatal overdose, but went sober on April 20th, 2008.
Em took to Instagram on April 20th, 2026, to share a photo of a gold 18-year coin that reads “to thing own self be true” and “unity, service and recovery.”
In the caption, he simply wrote the number 18 in Roman numerals: “XVIII.” The rapper can be seen wearing a T-shirt with the cover of D-Nice’s To Tha Rescue album on the front.
Eminem received support from various celebrities. The Roots’ Questlove wrote in the comments, “Awesome. Keep Goin,” while Theo Von said, “Amen.”
The 53-year-old has opened up about his addiction over the years. Speaking on the Paul Pod, he spoke about the changes he had made to his lifestyle
“I remember when I first got sober and all the shit was out of my system, I remember just being, like, really happy and everything was fucking new to me again,” he said. “[Relapse] was the first album and the first time that I had fun recording in a long time.”
He continued, “It was like the first time I started having fun with music again, and re-learning how to rap, you remember that whole process. It took a long time for my brain to start working again.”
Em once told The New York Times that he was addicted to “Vicodin, Valium and Ambien, and toward the end, which caused my overdose, methadone. I didn’t know it was methadone. I used to get pills wherever I could. I was just taking anything that anybody was giving to me.”