Eminem's organs ravaged by drug habit

Rap star Eminem.

Eminem says his addiction to prescription drugs left him with near-organ failure.

The 40-year-old rapper recounts his brush with death in an interview for new documentary How To Make Money Selling Drugs.

He remembers being rushed into hospital in a critical condition after a night of bingeing.

"Xanax, Valium, tomato, tomatoes, it's the same thing... F*** it, take it," he told filmmaker Matthew Cooke. "Had I got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died. My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything.

"They were gonna have to put me on dialysis. They didn't think I was gonna make it. My bottom was gonna be death."

Eminem, real name Marshall Mathers, says he dismissed friends who told him he had an issue with substance abuse.

The star came clean about his addiction on his 2010 hit album Recovery.

"I don't know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more," Eminem says in the film.

"People tried to tell me that I had a problem. I would say 'Get that f***ing person outta here. I'm not out there shooting heroin. I'm not f***ing out there putting coke up my nose. I'm not smoking crack'."

The rapper admits he relapsed just a month after being released from hospital.

However, he says he found strength in his role as a father to overcome his problems.

"I'm looking at my kids and [realising] 'I need to be here for this'," he muses. "Coming off everything, I literally was up 24 hours a day for three weeks straight. And I mean, not sleeping, not even nodding off for a f***king minute.

"I had to regain motor skills, I had to regain talking skills. It's been a learning process. I'm growing. I couldn't believe that anybody could be naturally happy without being on something. So I would say to anybody, 'It does get better'."

The documentary also includes interviews with Susan Sarandon, Woody Harrelson and Russell Simmons and is released this month.

- Cover Media