Eminem has reflected on one of the lowest points of his life, revealing how missing his daughter’s music recital after a near-fatal drug overdose in 2007 became a turning point in his recovery.
In the new documentary STANS, which explores the complex relationship between Eminem and his global fanbase, the rapper speaks candidly about the events leading up to his decision to get sober. He describes the moment he woke up in a hospital after an accidental methadone overdose, completely unaware of what had happened.
“I woke up in the hospital and I didn’t know what the fuck happened. It seemed like I fell asleep, and I woke up with tubes in me and shit. I wanted to get up. I couldn’t move,” he says in the film, according to People.
Eminem, real name Marshall Mathers, says the overdose was the result of a self-destructive spiral involving depression and prescription drug misuse.
“I got into this vicious cycle of, ‘I’m depressed so I need more pills,’ and then your tolerance gets so high you end up overdosing,” he recalls.
But it was the news that he had missed his daughter Hailie Jade’s first guitar recital that hit him the hardest.
“The amount of guilt that I felt, I cried when I saw it because I was like, ‘Oh my God, I missed that.’ Do you want to miss everything? If you can’t do it for yourself… then at least do it for them.”
Now 29, Hailie Jade is a successful influencer and podcast host. Eminem has often spoken about how fatherhood helped keep him grounded throughout the more turbulent years of his career.
The rapper has been sober since April 2008 and has credited his children as a key motivation in his recovery journey. The documentary, directed by Steven Leckart, features new interviews and rare footage tracing Eminem’s complicated evolution from underground battle rapper to reluctant global icon.
STANS is currently showing in select cinemas and will be available to stream on Paramount+ later this year.
