Eminem Opens Up About Near Fatal Overdose That Led Him To Sobriety

A near death experience changed everything for rapper Eminem, and years later, he's opening up about the drug overdose that led him to getting sober. The experience also helped the rap icon to really enjoy making music again.

In a recent interview on Paul Rosenberg's "Paul Pod" podcast, Eminem, who's real name is Marshall Mathers, 49, and Rosenberg, his longtime manager, recalled the rapper's journey to sobriety. They both agreed that he almost did not make it through that experience. Eminem got sober on April 20, 2008 and began working on his 2009 album "Relapse." He revealed that this was the first time he actually truly enjoyed the process of making music in a long time. "I remember when I first got sober and all the s**t was out of my system, I remember just being, like, really happy and everything was fu**ing new to me again," he explained. "It was the first album and the first time that I had fun recording in a long time. It was like the first time I started having fun with music again, and re-learning how to rap, you remember that whole process. It took a long time for my brain to start working again."

While recording the album, the rapper was still in withdrawal following the overdose from taking "75/80 Valium a night." There was concern from Rosenberg that he may have suffered permanent brain damage. "I don't know how you survived that," Rosenberg said, to which Eminem added, "I don't either." Rosenberg added, "Nobody was pushing you, you were just finding your way and doing it slowly, but a record that leaked out, 'Detroit Basketball' record, it wasn't good." The Grammy winner agreed and added, "It was fu**ing weird, because as my brain was turning back on, I started going over lines like 'Wait, that's not good.'" After about five to six months, the rapper was able to get back into a creative space and was able to record another hit album.

Eminem originally opened up about his accidental overdose to the New York Times in 2011. He told Men's Journal in 2015 that he replaced "addiction with exercise." The rapper has been staying busy and enjoying a steady flow of work. Last month, he announced a greatest hits album, "Curtain Call 2," which will feature Rihanna and Beyonce. He also recently joined Snoop Dogg on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards and received his first Emmy Award for his appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show.

A few weeks ago, Eminem posted a snap of him with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg in the studio together on his Instagram page. The post simply captioned, "just a few bros.. hangin out," got more than 2 million likes and 16,000 comments. The photo appeared just days after Snoop talked to "Entertainment Tonight" about reuniting with Dre to work on a new project. "We're cooking up a little something. I don't wanna talk about it too much, but we're back together again," he said while on the red carpet for his new film, "Day Shift." He continued, "It's been 30 years since we worked on a record, and we're doin' something, we're workin' on something."

Aside from music, Eminem was also busy last year opening a restaurant in his hometown of Detroit called, "Mom's Spaghetti." Of course, the name comes from his 2002 single, "Lose Yourself" that was featured in the film "8 Mile." "His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti."