On a day synonymous with counterculture, Eminem chose to celebrate a different kind of milestone. The Detroit rapper took to social media on Saturday to commemorate 16 years of sobriety, sharing a picture of a new sobriety chip.

This achievement is especially poignant considering Eminem’s well-documented struggles with addiction. In a candid essay published by XXL in 2022, the “Lose Yourself” rapper revealed the depths of his past addiction and his journey to recovery. It all began with pills following the success of his 1999 album, The Slim Shady LP. By the time of his 2002 release, The Eminem Show, and subsequent work on Encore in 2004, Eminem found himself spiraling.

“I was able to downplay my addiction and hide it for a while until it got really bad,” he confessed. “So, I’m coming off The Marshall Mathers LP and going into Encore when my addiction started to get bad. I was taking Vicodin, Valium, and alcohol. I kinda fell off the map a little bit and didn’t explain why I went away.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Marshall Mathers (@eminem)

Tragically, the death of his friend and fellow rapper D12’s Proof in 2006 only exacerbated Eminem’s downward spiral. “I remember just after Proof died, I was in my house by myself, and I was just laying in bed and I couldn’t move and I just kept staring at the ceiling fan,” he recounted. “And I just kept taking more pills. I literally couldn’t walk for two days when that happened, and eventually my drug use fuckin’ skyrocketed.”

A harrowing near-death experience from an accidental methadone overdose in 2007 served as a wake-up call for Eminem. It was a turning point that ultimately led him to embrace sobriety, a journey he has steadfastly maintained for 16 years and counting.