Eminem Opens Up About Pill Addiction, Shocking Weight Loss

Eminem speaks about his pill addiction and his battle to stay healthy, in the September issue of Men’s Journal.

Eminem Reveals Struggles With Pill Addiction, Speaks on Weight Loss

Eminem, 42, told Men’s Journal that after he overdosed on pills in 2007, he was “close to 230 pounds.”

“I’m not sure how I got so big, but I have ideas,” he said. “The coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I’d been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating.”

Eminem explained that when he finished rehab he decided to try running, to maintain his sobriety, by finding a healthier addiction.

“Unless I was blitzed out of my mind, I had trouble sleeping. So I started running. It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep, so it was perfect,” the rapper admitted. “It’s easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another, but one that’s good for them.”

Eminem’s need to run, unfortunately caused an injury. “All the constant pounding from the running began to tear up my hip flexors,” he revealed.

The rapper confessed that he finds it difficult at times to keep up with exercising daily, but he’s definitely committed.

“I still hate pull ups. They’re a motherf—ker, but I do them. I even fill out the log afterward. I guess I’m pretty compulsive working out,” Eminem pointed out. “I feel like if I step away from it for too long, if I have a crazy week and take a five-day break, it’ll be like starting over. I’m afraid that if it goes beyond that, I might lose the motivation.”

“Once you’re at a place where you’ve made progress and you’ve got some time invested in it, you don’t wanna quit and give up what you started,” he added.