Macklemore Says ‘I Was About to Die’ Before Sobriety Journey: ‘I Wouldn’t Be Here’ Without Rehab

But because Shepard himself had also shared a relapse of his own, the rapper, 38, felt inspired to do so — and in turn hopes that his openness regarding the subject of addiction will help others struggling feel less alone. These actions will bring about progress and change how we treat those affected by this disease. Without discussion, it’s too easy to ignore the problem, too easy not to care. If our nation can treat addiction with compassion, I think we’re going to see a beautiful transformation, a reorientation toward recovery.

• I know that a lot of Americans can’t, or they can’t afford to take the time off work.
• He does not hide it from his fans, from the public eye, despite the stigma that addiction so often carries.
• Last week, 38-year-old Macklemore shared his experience with addiction in an essay for TODAY.
• «It was really painful for myself and for the people who loved me. I stopped doing the work,» he said at the time.

It’s that kind of compassion our country needs to fight the current opioid crisis. In his interview with the People’s Party with Talib Kweli podcast, Macklemore praised the benefits of addiction support groups. «I didn’t know that there was a community that was there to support, love me unconditionally, and had the same f–king disease,» he said.

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«There’s so much work to be done. I’ve been in and out of the rooms of recovery for 14 years now, and I relapsed at the beginning of Covid,» he admitted. «So I have a couple years, but I still feel like a newcomer. I still feel like this is brand new and I’m just on the precipice of figuring out something that’s gonna open a new door.» He soon realized the times he felt most fulfilled were when he was performing acts of service and having a «sense of community,» so he wouldn’t feel alone. He admitted he didn’t figure out what the root of the addiction was until recently when he found «a community of men in recovery,» especially those who had experienced «sexual trauma.» In an interview with “Good Morning America,” the rapper, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, who is known for his chart-topping hits like “Can’t Hold Us” and “Thrift Shop,” candidly spoke about his own struggles with addiction and the importance of seeking help.

Drug overdoses kill more than 64,000 people per year, and are now the leading cause of death for Americans under 50. To document the nation’s devastating opioid crisis, TIME sent photographer James Nachtwey and deputy director of photography Paul Moakley across the country to gather stories from the frontlines of the epidemic. The result, The Opioid Diaries, is a visual record of a national emergency and a call to action. The rapper appears on a new episode of the podcast On Purpose With Jay Shetty for a candid conversation about overcoming addiction. During the chat, Macklemore revealed that he began what he calls a “very painful drinking career” at the age of 14. «Like, I wouldn’t be there right now and that’s not to be f–king dramatic, that’s just what it is. Like, I was about to die. I just was lucky enough to go to a facility for 30 days. And people, I think, don’t know that that’s okay to go to treatment.»

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After years of trying to get sober on my own, I went to rehab. “If it weren’t for recovery, I wouldn’t be here period, but I definitely would not be on this stage. I never had moderation with anything and that absolutely transferred into drugs and alcohol from an early age,” Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, said in between songs. Earlier this year, musician Macklemore appeared on an episode of People’s Party with Talib Kweli to talk about his life and music.

Macklemore is on a mission to help those struggling with drugs and addiction. Many experts today stand by this statement by Macklemore. Truth is, the nation’s current opioid problem is largely in the hands of the pharmaceutical companies who once downplayed the dangers of prescription painkillers and the doctors who, to this day, still overprescribe opioid drugs to patients. Though he was able to hide his addiction on a surface level, the problem became apparent to his family, and it was his father who eventually approached him about going to rehab at the age of 25.

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«This is an indicator of who I was, from the jump. After school, by myself [at] 13 years old, maybe 14.» This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. The amount of pain and damage that I can do very quickly in losing the trust of others happens instantaneously. The song is a preview of the body of work Macklemore made during the pandemic, which follows his 2017 album Gemini. He explained that he purposely kept the album to himself until he could share it with a wider audience.

At age 25, he started to find small, local success as a rapper; enough to pay his bills. When the momentum of this success came to a halt, Macklemore turned to drugs and alcohol to cope. He began recreationally using OxyContin, drinking excessively, and smoking Marijuana. These unhealthy habits caused him to feel as if he had lost the will to live. For Macklemore, his 2020 relapse was the latest in a recovery journey that began in 2008, when his father helped get him into treatment after years of drug and alcohol abuse.

One way to achieve this is to give addicts and their families a platform to share their stories because that’s how we’ll learn compassion for this issue and each other. We have to discuss the over-incarceration of addicts and the over-prescription of America. We need to mobilize around recovery and restoration, and find ways to get addicts who want help the resources to do so. By the time he became a bona fide Hip Hop star, thanks to the success of his multiplatinum single “Thrift Store,” the Seattle, Washington native had already escalated to other drugs and even entered recovery. But all of that changed once he got into the spotlight. Macklemore has opened up about the impact his career has had on his addiction journey, revealing for the first time that he relapsed after his 2014 Grammy wins.

We need to get people into treatment and CLEAN Cause is doing that, and I’m excited to be a part of it. It has been reported that 1 in 7 people in the US will develop a substance use disorder in their lifetime. Of these individuals, only 1 in 10 will receive https://ecosoberhouse.com/ the treatment they need. Additionally, the US saw the highest number of recorded overdose deaths, over 100,000, for any 12-month period last year. Macklemore hopes that being honest about his own story can help others to get the treatment they need.

Although he’s experienced several relapses since then, he continues to fight for his sobriety. Lastly, the rapper paid homage to those who lost their lives to substance abuse. I was starting to make music with Ryan Lewis and I wrote a song called “Otherside.” I hadn’t had any music really connect sober rappers until we put out the “VS. I would do a show and there would be people at the merch table saying, “’Otherside’ changed my life.” It’s not like there was a lane there — addiction and sobriety aren’t marketable things — but there is a lane in terms of other people resonating with the subject.