“I got into this vicious cycle of, 'I’m depressed so I need more pills'”: Eminem opens up about addiction and overdose in new documentary

Eminem has opened up about his past experiences with drug abuse and addiction. The rapper in his new documentary, Stans, revealed that he messed around with prescription drugs like Xanax, Vicodin, Ambien and others.

The 52-year-old rapper revealed that he found himself justifying his need for more drugs:

“I got into this vicious cycle of, 'I’m depressed, so I need more pills.' Then your tolerance gets so high that you end up overdosing. I woke up in the hospital, and I didn’t know what had happened. I woke up in the hospital with tubes in me and s--t, and I couldn’t get up I wanted to move.”

"Relearned how to walk, talk and for the most part had to relearn how to rap again,” Eminem recalls drug addiction struggle

The Not Afraid rapper, who has celebrated 17 years of being sober, recalled when he missed his daughter’s birthday. He felt devastated because he missed such an important event and shared that the feeling of disappointment caused him to take serious steps to put an end to addiction:

“I cried because it was like, ‘Oh my god, I missed that.' I kept saying to myself, ‘Do you want to f--king miss this again? Do you want to miss everything? If you can’t do it for yourself, you f--king p---y, at least do it for them.’”

However, according to the rap legend, the decision to turn a new leaf didn’t come without its struggles. Eminem had to relearn how to do basic things like walking and talking because of the lifestyle change:

"Had to relearn how to walk, talk and for the most part had to relearn how to rap again."

Eminem added that his addiction affected his writing, and it was a good feeling to get over the limitations it had caused. He shared that he enjoyed working on his 2009 album Relapse because it detailed his struggles with addiction and his journey towards sobriety. He felt empowered by the way he rose above his addiction and left it behind.

Eminem’s documentary was released on August 7, 2025, for a limited one-week run. It will be shown in 135 AMC theaters and over 1,600 theaters across the USA. The legendary rapper surprised fans at the documentary’s launch party in New York City.

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