Eminem celebrates 10 whole years of being sober

American rapper has been off of alcohol and prescribed medication

American rapper Marshall Mathers, who goes by the popular stage name of Eminem, recently celebrated 10 years of being sober, reported E! News.

Eminem, who likes to stay away from the limelight, has long battled excessive consumption of alcohol and prescription medication. Back in 2005, the rapper admitted himself into rehab but relapsed soon after. In late 2007, he almost died from an accidental overdose of methadone after which he decided to get clean.

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Earlier this week, Eminem took to Instagram and shared a picture of himself holding a sobriety coin, bearing the circle and triangle symbol used by Alcoholics Anonymous - an international mutual aid fellowship whose purpose is to enable its members to "stay sober" and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.

The Lose Yourself hit-maker captioned the photo, "Celebrated by 10 years yesterday."

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In a 2011 interview with GQ Magazine, Eminem said, "Sobriety has taught me why my thought process is different." The Not Afraid singer added that people don't realise that being an alcoholic is a disease and that addiction is a serious issue.

However, the 45-year-old rapper concluded, "I've realised that the way I am, helps with music. Sporadic thoughts will pop into my head and I'll have to go write something down. The next thing you know I've written a whole song in an hour. But sometimes it sucks, and I wish I was wired like a regular person."

This article originally appeared on E! News.

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