Addiction is a horrible thing. If a person is not able to navigate it and rid themselves of substances and substance abuse, then it can destroy lives, families, and more. It’s a disease that eats you from the inside and, sadly, it has a long history when it comes to musicians. Drugs and rock and roll are two of the three pillars of the most famous sentence in music, after all.
Here below, however, we wanted to explore the lives of three artists who were able to, at least for a little while, survive their addictions and get past big-time lows. Indeed, these are three artists who survived drug overdoses.
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Eminem
Known as one of the greatest rappers in the history of the genre, few artists have had such a meteoric rise to stardom like Eminem. His 1999 LP, The Slim Shady LP, showcased his sharp tongue and his relationship with famed rap producer Dr. Dre. But all of the success came to be too much for Em, who is one of many artists out there that has experienced a drug overdose. The incident occurred in 2007 after Em took a dangerous amount of methadone. It nearly killed him.
There was worry in the immediate aftermath that Em might have permanent brain damage. Thankfully, that’s not the case, even though he did start using drugs again shortly after leaving the hospital that first time. And in true Em form, the album he released after almost dying was titled Relapse. Still, even after surviving the experience, he said that it “took a long time for my brain to start working again.” Thankfully, he’s been sober since 2008.
Demi Lovato
Since around 2010, pop star Demi Lovato has publicly struggled with drug abuse, like many artists out there. That year, she went into an inpatient facility in Chicago. In 2018, Lovato experienced an overdose that nearly killed her. A few years later in 2021, she released a song called “Sober” which detailed he struggles with addiction. She has even tried living in sober housing to dissuade the inner demons from coming out.
Sadly, sobriety is a lifelong struggle. In a public statement, Lovato has addressed her ongoing battle with addiction, saying, “I have always been transparent about my journey with addiction. What I’ve learned is that this illness is not something that disappears or fades with time. It is something I must continue to overcome and have not done yet.”
The road is long and hard, to be sure.
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne was a comet in the sky. The New Orleans rapper came out of nowhere to be the biggest name in rap around 2007. He held the crown for several years thanks to some of the most creative rhyming imaginable. But Wayne had a problem. The thing, other than his elastic mind, that helped him write his rhymes was also the thing that was killing him.
In 2013, Wayne nearly died after he collapsed and suffered several seizures. Why? Because of all the codeine in his system from the sizzurp—or a homemade drink made from cough syrup and Sprite soda. Codeine, which is in the same family of drugs as heroin, was all the rage in the rap world because of Wayne. Thankfully, the lyricist survived, and he’s continued to make music.
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