Marshall Mathers: Prescription drug abuse almost killed him, he says
Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, says that his abuse of prescription drugs brought him within two hours of death. Marshall Mathers says he didn't think he could be 'naturally happy' without drugs.
Eminem (r.) performs with Dr. Dre (l.) at the Grammy Awards in 2011. Eminem will be one of multiple artists whose singles will receive the gold, platinum or multi-platinum award now that the RIAA is counting digital downloads and streams.
Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
“Had I got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died," Eminem says of his lowest point.
Eminem is opening up about his drug addiction in the new documentary "How To Make Money Selling Drugs."
The 40-year-old rapper says he initially didn't think he had a problem because he was taking prescription pills prescribed to him by a doctor.
“When I took my first Vicodin, it was like this feeling of ‘Ahh.’ Like everything was not only mellow, but [I] didn’t feel any pain,” he recalls.
But after adding Xanax and Valium to the mix, things quickly began to unravel.
“I don’t know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more," he admits. "People tried to tell me that I had a problem.”
"I would say ‘Get that [expletive] person outta here,’” Eminem recounts in the film. “I can’t believe they said that [expletive] to me. I’m not out there shooting heroin. I’m not [expletive] out there putting coke up my nose. I’m not smoking crack.”
Ultimately, Eminem was hospitalized and on the brink of death.
“Had I got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died," he says. "My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. They were gonna have to put me on dialysis. They didn’t think I was gonna make it. My bottom was gonna be death.”
"I'm looking at my kids and [realizing] 'I need to be here for this,'" he says in the film.
After a relapse and eventual detox, Eminem finally got his habit under control.
“I had to regain motor skills, I had to regain talking skills. It’s been a learning process, I’m growing," reveals the rapper. "I couldn’t believe that anybody could be naturally happy without being on something. So I would say to anybody, ‘It does get better.'
"My name is Marshall. I am an addict."
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