Eminem Recalls Almost Dying After Near-Fatal Overdose: It Took A Long Time For My Brain To Start Working Again

Eminem

Eminem Recalls Almost Dying After Near-Fatal Overdose: It Took A Long Time For My Brain To Start Working Again

Eminem is opening up about his 2007 near-fatal overdose.

In a recent episode of Paul Rosenberg’s “Paul Pod” podcast, Eminem, 49, got candid about his near-fatal overdose and how it affected him mentally and physically. The “Lose Yourself” rapper admitted,

“It took a long time for my brain to start working again.”

During the interview, Eminem recalled Paul Rosenberg–who is also Eminem’s manager– asking his doctors whether the rapper may have suffered permanent brain damage as he learned to make music and rap while sober for the first time in years in the wake of his overdose. Eminem asked,

“Didn’t you ask the doctors when I started recording new s—, when I first started rapping again, and sent it to you, didn’t you say, ‘I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have brain damage?'”

Eminem

Rosenberg confirmed that at the time, he was concerned about whether Eminem would have “permanent problems” as he recovered. The two men cited an unreleased song called “Detroit Basketball” that leaked at the time as an example of the kind of work Eminem produced immediately after his recovery that created some cause for concern. Rosenberg said,

“Nobody was pushing you, you were just finding your way and doing it slowly, but a record that leaked out, that ‘Detroit Basketball’ record, it wasn’t good.”

Eminem agreed and added,

“It was f**ing weird, because as my brain was turning back on, I started going over lines like ‘Wait, that’s not good.’ If you remember, I don’t know which version leaked, but if you remember, there were like, 20 versions of that sh*t.”

Rosenberg said although he was worried at first, Eminem’s recovery didn’t take long. He noted,

“It was quick. It was certainly concerning, but we’re only talking about over the course of five or six months total.”

Eminem revealed that as the drugs left his system, he would have withdrawals and feel like his “skin was itching.” The “Superman” artist admitted that at one point, he was

“taking 75-80 Valium a night.”

Eminem has been sober since April 20, 2008, according to a 2020 Twitter post, and made his 2009 album Relapse during the early days of his recovery. During the interview, the “8 Mile” actor said that as he returned to music, he felt that things were “new to me again.” He explained,

“I remember when I first got sober and all the sh*t was out of my system, I remember just being, like, really happy and everything was f**ing new to me again. It was the first album and the first time that I had fun recording in a long time.”