Eminem hospitalised for drug dependency

LOS ANGELES - Rap star Eminem has been hospitalised for dependency on sleep medication, his label said two days after the recording artist cancelled a European tour due to "exhaustion" and "other medical issues."

The back-to-back announcements come weeks after the Detroit Free Press reported that the Grammy-winning rapper, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, might retire at the end of his "Anger Management" tour, which also featured his protege, 50 Cent.

Eminem, who turns 33 in October, flatly denied such plans, but has said he wants to focus more on producing artists for his Shady Records label. The North American leg of the tour wrapped recently.

"Marshall Mathers, aka Eminem, is in the hospital under doctors' care," Interscope Records said in a statement. "He's being treated for dependency on sleep medication."

A publicist at the Universal Music Group label declined to give further details, including information about where and or for how long the rap star had been hospitalised.

On Tuesday, Eminem said through his label that he was cancelling the European leg of his tour, scheduled to run from September 1 in Hamburg to September 17 near Dublin, citing "exhaustion, complicated by other medical issues." Those dates were not expected to be rescheduled, the statement added.

Eminem became a smash sensation in the last six years with a series of Grammy-winning albums, despite critics who condemned many of his lyrics as homophobic, misogynist and excessively violent.

His current release, "Encore," toned down the rhetoric, and included an anti-war single.

He won an Academy Award in 2003 for co-writing a song that appeared on the hit movie "8 Mile," a semi-autobiographical release in which he also starred.

- REUTERS