Elton John Helps Eminem Fight Drug Use

Filed under: Drugs,Elton John,Eminem

Elton John says he has been helping rapper Eminem fight drug problems for more than a year.

John told BBC Radio Saturday that Eminem is succeeding in his well-publicized battle against substance abuse. “I’ve been helping Eminem over the last 18 months and he’s doing brilliantly,” John says, reports the British Press Association. “I’m there if people want my help. If people ask for help you tell them where to go but there’s no point advising people if they don’t want to do it.”

John believes that as a recovered drug abuser, he is happy to help people if they want the assistance but drugs make people so cocky and arrogant that they often reject help.

Eminem, who had been accused of being homophobic, performed with John during the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards on February 21, 2001. The two sang Eminem’s song ‘Stan’ to show the rapper had no hate for the LGBT community. Eminem won three Grammys despite anger over his lyrics, which critics revile as anti-gay and violent.

In May, Eminem admitted he’d suffered from a devastating drug addiction that led to him downing as many as 20 Vicodin, Ambien and Valium in a day. “The numbers got so high,” he told Vibe magazine, “I don’t even know what I was taking.

Following his first stint in rehab in 2005, the rapper said he nearly overdosed after an acquaintance gave him unidentified blue pills, which a doctor later told him were actually methadone.

Posted in: January 2, 2010 at 12:00 pm