Eminem celebrates 10 years of sobriety

Eminem performs onstage at the MTV Movie Awards. Photo / Getty

Eminem is celebrating a decade of sobriety.

The River star – who has battled an addiction to sleeping pills – posted a picture on Instagram showing him holding up the sobriety chip he was given when he reached the milestone according to DailyMail.

'Celebrated my 10 years yesterday,' the 8 Mile star said.

View this post on Instagram

Celebrated my 10 years yesterday.

A post shared by Marshall Mathers (@eminem) on Apr 21, 2018 at 5:09pm PDT

The token has the Roman numeral 'X' in the centre of a triangle, for 10 years.

The words 'service', 'unity' and 'recovery' are etched around the edges.

Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, has been sober since 2008 when he checked himself into rehab and started the 12-step program.

The hip hop star has spoken openly about his addiction and recovery in his music.
The actor nearly died from an accidental overdose.

Rap artist Eminem speaks about his financial past and present at the 1st Financial Hip Hop Summit May 14, 2005 in Detroit, Michigan. Photo / Getty

'In 2007, I overdosed on pills, and I went into the hospital,' he told Men's Journal in 2015.

'I was close to 230 pounds. I'm not sure how I got so big, but I have ideas.

'The coating on the Vicodin and the Valium I'd been taking for years leaves a hole in your stomach, so to avoid a stomach ache, I was constantly eating — and eating badly.'

But then he started working out.

'When I got out of rehab, I needed to lose weight, but I also needed to figure out a way to function sober,' he added.

'Unless I was blitzed out of my mind, I had trouble sleeping. So I started running. It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep, so it was perfect.

'It's easy to understand how people replace addiction with exercise. One addiction for another but one that's good for them.'

Rapper Royce Da 5'9 congratulated the singer on Friday: 'Happy sobriety birthday to my mentor @Eminem … Keep fighting the good fight homie … I love you for life.'

Eminem was at Coachella last weekend and is supposed to appear again on Sunday.