Eminem Recalls How Overdose Strained Bond With His Daughter

For his whole career, Eminem has tried to find the balance between heartfelt, compelling introspection and rowdy, destructive provocation; the man and the mask, if you will. While his sobriety journey has helped him a lot in this regard, the harrowing 2007 overdose that spurred it is still a vivid memory as a key turning point.

According to AllHipHop, Marshall Mathers spoke on the overdose in the new movie STANS, which explores his relationship with his hardcore fans. In his statements on the matter, he revealed the moment during recovery that really put his dangers into perspective for him.

"I got into this vicious cycle of, 'I'm depressed so I need more pills,'" Eminem stated regarding his past substance abuse. "And then your tolerance gets so high, you end up overdosing. I woke up in the hospital. And I didn't know what the f**k happened. It seemed like I fell asleep. And I woke up with tubes in me and s**t. I wanted to get up. I couldn't move. After the overdose, I came home going, 'Yo, bro, I need something.'"

More specifically, the Detroit legend said that missing his daughter Hailie's first guitar recital was when he kicked his habits for good. "The amount of guilt that I felt," he reportedly remarked. "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."

Eminem STANS

The Eminem-produced STANS documentary is now in select theaters and will reportedly stream on Paramount+ later this year. At the film's New York premiere, he had some words to say.

"It's so crazy to me to look at, over my career, just the fact that I was able to impact people," Eminem stated at the premiere. "When I was writing this song ["Stan"], I didn't understand the impact my music was having on people at the time. And it was really surreal to me, and it's still surreal to this day to look out here and see all you and the fact that my music has inspired you. This film is a thank you to all of you for sticking by me for this whole f***ing time… I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart."