Eminem showed how far he’s come in his sobriety journey in a simple Instagram post on Saturday, April 20. Marshall Mathers, 51, shared a photo of his Alcoholics Anonymous chip, which showed that he celebrated his 16th year of sobriety. The chip had a design of a tree with swirling artwork showing the trunk and leaves. It also had a triangle as AA’s symbol and the number 16 in it. The words “Unity”, “Service”, and “Recovery” surrounded the triangle.
Eminem did not include a comment in the post, simply letting the chip speak for itself, but many of his fans and famous friends showed their support for him, as he marked 16 years sober. His longtime manager Paul Rosenberg left a supportive message for him. “Sweet 16. So proud of you,” he wrote.
Other fans left comments speaking about how far they’ve come in their own sobriety journeys, like Eminem. “That chip is beautiful!! I get mine tomorrow!!! 5 years!!!” one person wrote. “Congrats Marshall. This May will be 8 years for me!” another fan commented.
Eminem has been sober since 2008. He’s been very forthcoming about his addiction to drugs in his music and in interviews. His first album released after he got clean was 2009’s Relapse, but he rapped more candidly about his struggles with addiction on 2010’s Recovery, which included songs like “Not Afraid”, “Going Through Changes” and “Talkin’ 2 Myself.”
In more recent years, Slim Shady has marked the anniversaries of his recovery by sharing a photo of his chip on social media. When he celebrated 12 years of sobriety in 2020, he shared a photo of the chip by writing, “Clean dozen, in the books! I’m not afraid.”
With over a decade of sobriety under his belt, Eminem has continued to crank out music, which is still beloved by his fans. His most recent release was 2020’s Music to be Murdered by, but he did prank fans at the beginning of April, joking that he would release a follow-up to his debut record Infinite.