April 20 marked a major milestone for Eminem — he officially became 12 years sober. The 47-year-old took to Instagram to share the exciting news, along with a photo of his 12-year pin. “Clean dozen, in the books!” Eminem captioned the image. “I’m not afraid.” The picture garnered more than 1 million likes in less than ten hours, and fans flooded the comments section with their congratulatory messages to the rapper. Many also shared stories of their own sobriety journeys in their comments.
Even some celebrities got in on the fun. Evelyn Lozada wrote, “Congrats!” with three red heart emojis, while Brielle Biermann also commented with several heart emojis. One fan gushed, “Congratulations dear Marshall. You are my inspiration. Thank you,” and someone else wrote, “YESS! Continue to inspire and show others they have power over their lives.” SO many people weighed in, letting Eminem know how “proud” they were of him for reaching this impressive milestone.
Eminem suffered a terrifying overdose at the end of 2017, and months later, he decided to officially quit using drugs and alcohol for good. In 2009, Eminem opened up about how bad his addiction was, and admitted to taking “anywhere between 10 and 20” Vicodin a day, in addition to other substances.
During the height of his drug use (2005-2008), Eminem did not release any music. It wasn’t until May 2009, when he was more than one year sober, that he returned to the rap game with his record, Relapse, followed by Recovery the following year. He took another big break from music from 2014-2016, but returned with his album, Revival, in 2017, followed by releases in 2018 (Kamikaze) and his surprise 2020 release, Music to Be Murdered By.
