Eminem’s Near-Fatal Overdose Left Him In Rough Shape: ‘It Took A Long Time For My Brain To Start Working Again’ [Video]

Back in 2007, Eminem was hospitalized after overdosing on methadone in the midst of an addiction to prescription pills. (He’s now proudly sober.) He talked about that time in his life recently, revealing just how bad of a state he was in.

via: Rolling Stone

The interview is part of a seven-episode limited podcast series that launched in August to celebrate the rapper and the release of his recent greatest hits album, Curtain Call 2.

“I remember when I first got sober and all the shit was out of my system, I remember just being, like, really happy and everything was fucking new to me again,” Eminem told Rosenberg, reflecting on making Relapse two years later. “It was the first album and the first one that I had fun recording in a long time.”

He added, “It was like the first time I started having fun with music again and relearning how to rap. You remember that whole process, [it] took a long time for my brain to start working again.”

“You literally were coming off of an overdose, and they had to sort of stabilize you with a few medications,” Rosenberg responded. “And some of them took you a minute to adjust to—let’s just leave it at that. So, you’re learning how to rap again almost literally, right? Because it’s the first time, probably, you were creating without having substances in your body in, however many years, right? So it’s a whole different experience.”

Rosenberg added that he thought the rapper might have brain damage after the overdose and had to ask doctors if Eminem could rap again. “I thought you might have some permanent problems,” Rosenberg said. “I was concerned, for sure.”

The first thing Eminem wrote was “Detroit Basketball,” an unreleased song that leaked, which the pair agreed was not his best work. “It was fucking weird because as my brain started turning back on I started going over lines like, ‘Wait, that’s not good,’” Eminem said.

Elsewhere in the podcast, Eminem recalled taking “75-80 valium” a night during his detox process. “I don’t know how you survived that,” Rosenberg replied. “You almost didn’t. That’s the truth.”

Eminem released Curtain Call 2 in August via Shady Records/Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records. The LP features tracks from all of Eminem’s projects from Relapse onward, including side-projects, guest appearances, film soundtrack songs, and his solo albums. The album followed on the heels of “From the D 2 the LBC,” a joint single with Snoop Dogg that the pair performed live at the MTV VMAs.