While battling his addiction to pills, Eminem turned to another celebrity who’d been down the same road—62-year-old singer-songwriter Sir Elton John. In an out-take from his first-person cover story in VIBE’s June 2009 Real Rap Issue, Eminem reveals that he and Elton have been close friends since their surprise performance of “Stan” at the 2001 Grammys.
“When I came home from the hospital the second time and I realized that I was giving up drugs forever I reached out to Elton cause I knew he had a problem before,” Eminem explains. “I knew he was in recovery and I just wanted to reach out to somebody who was on the same level as far as fame and shit like that go, and just asked him how in the hell he did it. He was really supportive, and still is to this day.”
When Elton John first performed with Eminem back in 2001, the openly gay rock legend was criticized for co-signing a rapper whose lyrics had been labeled homophobic. But John was adamant in his support. "From the start, I've always admired Eminem's thinking,” he said in a 2005 interview. “That's the reason I wanted to appear on the Grammys with him when I was asked, despite all the nonsense talked about his being homophobic. Let the Boy Georges and the George Michaels of the world get up in a twist about it if they don't have the intelligence to see his intelligence."
Eminem and Elton kept in touch ever since that Grammy performance. “We’d call each other up every now and then,” Eminem reveals. “I went to a concert of his when he came to town—me and Kid Rock went.”
And when Eminem was caught up in a fight for his life, he turned to Elton for support and advice. “Especially in the beginning, there was a couple of things he talked me out of doing,” Eminem admits in an out-take from his June 2009 VIBE cover story “Can I Kick It?” which details his nearly fatal overdose, relapses, recovery, and triumphant return to hip hop. “There was a Nelson Mandela thing that I was rumored to go to and I had just got out of the hospital. He was like ‘Don’t do it. Do not do it.’ I was actually considering it. I didn’t want to disappoint anybody. He talked me out of doing it. He was like, ‘I’m telling you’re gonna get over there and you’re gonna wanna use. Don’t do it, it’s too early. You don’t even have enough clean time under your belt.” He called a lot. A few times a week. Checked in to see how I was doing and shit. He knew how hard it was in the beginning for him to quit.”
Eminem’s new album Relapse (Shady / Aftermath / Interscope) drops next week.
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