Eminem’s long battle with substance abuse and his recovery with the help of Elton John are well-known, and he seems to be passing the torch to other musicians. Rapper Royce da 5’9”, whose real name is Ryan Daniel Montgomery, wrote in a song on his new album that the fellow Detroit rapper Eminem helped him get sober.
In “Stay Woke,” he raps, “Thanks to Marshall [Eminem] I’m sober, doin’ what I enjoy doin’.”
Montgomery, 40, also described the events in a recent interview.
“He linked me up to my therapist, who is still my therapist today, and my sponsor, and I haven’t had a drink since. That was six years ago.”
He also said the before he even decided to get sober, Eminem, real name Marshall Mathers, said that he could call him if Montgomery thought he had a problem. At first it bothered Montgomery, alcoholics usually experience denial, but he began to come around.
It was time to stop, he said. “If I don’t act on this feeling now,” he told himself, “I don’t think I’ll survive it.” That’s when he decided to take Mathers up on his offer and call him for support.
“When I went home,” he said, “he put me in this hospital with this doctor and I got some of the best sleep that I got in a long time.”
Mathers, who celebrated a decade sober in April, originally got sober after an overdose in 2007. He shared his ten-year medallion on Instagram.
“Had I got to the hospital two hours later,” he said, “I would have died. My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. They didn’t think I was gonna make it.” He realized later that his lowest point could have easily been death.
He got sober with the help of Elton John, saying that the singer helped him. “Getting clean made me grow up,” he said. “I feel like all the years I was using, I wasn’t a growing person.”
Author: Ryan Beitler
An editor and contributor to Addiction Now, Ryan Beitler is a journalist, fiction writer, musician, and travel writer. He has written for Paste Magazine, OC Weekly, numerous addiction recovery publications, and his travel blog Our Little Blue Rock. He lives in Southern California. Contact Ryan at ryanrbeitler@gmail.com or ryanb@addictionnow.com.
