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Eminem's pill-popping past, the confession

May 5, 2009, 9:05 GMT

Eminem almost died of a methadone overdose. Eminem.

Eminem. "I started looking around my house to see if I had a stash box of Vicodin. I'm ransacking my house, finally find something in the basement, in a little napkin, seven and a half Vicodin - the big extra strength ones - and a few Valium." © Lee Roth / RothStock / PR PhotosThe 'We Made You' rapper relapsed in 2005 following an unsuccessful stint in rehab for an addiction to sleeping medication when a friend gave him a handful of unidentified blue tablets.He said: "My doctor told me those mysterious new pills were methadone, which is used to wean heroin addicts off dope. Had I known it was methadone, I probably wouldn't have taken it. But as bad as I was back then, I can't even say 100 per cent for sure."My doctor told me the amount of methadone I'd taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin. Even when they told me I almost died, it didn't click."The 36-year-old hip-hop star admits his substance abuse addiction had spiralled out of control by then.He added to Vibe magazine: "It's no secret I had a drug problem. If I was to give you a number of Vicodin I would actually take in a day? Anywhere between 10 to 20. Valium, Ambien, the numbers got so high I don't even know what I was taking."I started looking around my house to see if I had a stash box of Vicodin. I'm ransacking my house, finally find something in the basement, in a little napkin, seven and a half Vicodin - the big extra strength ones - and a few Valium."Following a three-year-break from recording material, Eminem is thrilled to be back with his new LP 'Relapse' and insists he is only addicted to work these days.He said: "I almost feel like a little kid again with rap. I want to play around with different flows. If I don't feel like it's what I'm fully capable of, if there's one weak line, I want to change it. Rap was my drug. It used to get me high and then it stopped getting me high. Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that... now rap's getting me high again."'Relapse' is due for release in the US on May 19.