Eminem almost died of a methadone overdose. The "We Made You" rapper relapsed in 2005 following an unsuccessful stint in rehab for an addiction to sleeping medication when a friend gave him a handful of unidentified blue tablets.
He said: "My doctor told me those mysterious new pills were methadone, which is used to wean heroin addicts off dope. Had I known it was methadone, I probably wouldn't have taken it. But as bad as I was back then, I can't even say 100 percent for sure."
"My doctor told me the amount of methadone I'd taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin. Even when they told me I almost died, it didn't click."
The 36-year-old hip-hop star admits his substance abuse addiction had spiraled out of control by then.
He added to Vibe magazine: "It's no secret I had a drug problem. If I was to give you a number of Vicodin I would actually take in a day? Anywhere between 10 to 20. Valium, Ambien, the numbers got so high I don't even know what I was taking."
"I started looking around my house to see if I had a stash box of Vicodin. I'm ransacking my house, finally find something in the basement, in a little napkin, seven and a half Vicodin - the big extra strength ones - and a few Valium."
Following a three-year-break from recording material, Eminem is thrilled to be back with his new LP "Relapse" and insists he is only addicted to work these days.
He said: "I almost feel like a little kid again with rap. I want to play around with different flows. If I don't feel like it's what I'm fully capable of, if there's one weak line, I want to change it. Rap was my drug. It used to get me high and then it stopped getting me high. Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that... now rap's getting me high again."
"Relapse" is due for release in the U.S. on May 19.
 | | | | | |
