Eminem celebrates 16 years of sobriety as he showcases new recovery chip

‘BIG DEAL. Congrats man, thanks for being an example,’ one fan responds to Eminem’s post on Instagram

Eminem is celebrating a big milestone: 16 years of sobriety.

The 51-year-old rapper took to Instagram over the weekend to showcase his black and gold chip in his hand. The chip included a graphic of a tree, along with three words in a circle that read: “Recovery, Unity, Service.”

Inside the black and gold circle, there was a triangle around the number 16, which symbolises the number of years that the father-of-three has been sober.

Fans and famous faces took to the comments to applaud Eminem’s ongoing sobriety, following his struggles with drug addiction.

“Sweet 16. So proud of you,” Paul Rosenberg, who is the longtime manager of the musician, wrote.

“BIG DEAL. Congrats man, thanks for being an example,” musician Ekoh wrote, while his brother, Nathan Mathers, added: “Greatest Influence and Mentor.”

Other fans expressed how they could relate to Eminem – whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers – as they’ve also been on their own sobriety journeys.

“Congrats Marshall. This May will be eight years for me!” one commented, while another added: “That chip is beautiful!! I get mine tomorrow!!! Five years!!!”

A third wrote: “Seven years clean and sober here… congrats bro.”

In 2022, the “Mockingbird” singer opened up about his experiences with drug addiction, confessing his loved ones were concerned he might have permanent brain damage after he suffered a drug overdose. He previously struggled with addiction to prescription painkillers and in 2007 took a near-fatal overdose of methadone that left him in hospital.

Appearing on his manager Rosenberg’s podcast, Paul Pod: Curtain Call 2 in September 2022, Eminem said that “it took a long time for my brain to start working again” after the incident.

“You literally were coming off of an overdose, and they had to sort of stabilise you with a few medications,” Rosenberg said. “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?”

“Didn’t you ask the doctors when I first started rapping again, didn’t you say, ‘I just wanna make sure he doesn’t have brain damage?’” Eminem then recalled, with Rosenberg admitting he was worried Eminem may have “some permanent problems”.

“I was concerned, for sure,” Rosenberg added.

During an interview with XXL in September 2022, he reflected on his drug use throughout his early career, from taking “75 to 80 Valiums a night” to taking Ambien to perform. Although he didn’t address the start of his sobriety journey following the 2007 overdose, he did reflect on his battle with addiction and shared what he realised when looking back on it.

“When I wrap it up in a nutshell, I realise that all the heaviest drug usage and addiction spanned only about five years of my life,” he said. “It’s crazy for me to think back. It felt like a long time when it was happening, but looking back at it now, it wasn’t that long of a time for my problem to explode as it did.”