Eminem: "I Feel Like A Human Being Again"

Eminem’s interview in the new December/January issue of Complex Magazine is a surprisingly candid piece where Em opens up about his battle with addictions (to drugs and jogging), his weight gain, hair color, internet porn, and how 18 months of sobriety have allowed him to feel human again.

COMPLEX: I’m sure sobriety has changed more than just your rapping. Has it changed your friendships?

Eminem: Yeah, I’ve gone back and rekindled some old friendships—people I knew from back in the day. I feel like I’m closer with everybody now, certainly—probably a lot easier to get along with, too.

C: How so?

E: [Laughs.] You want to explain that, Paul?

[Em’s manager] Paul Rosenberg: [Laughs.] In every regard. Literally, in every way you can imagine he’s easier to get along with.

C: So you feel better?

E: [Laughs.] Hell yeah, I feel better. I feel like a human being again. There was one point in time where I felt like…[Sighs.] I don’t know—I felt like plastic.

C: In what way?

E: I think I looked plastic. My face, fat plastic. [Laughs.] I was eating, but the Vicodin made me hungry because it eats up your stomach lining, so you want to fill your stomach back up, but then it stops you up so you can’t sh*t, you just—

C: Jesus.

E: That’s why I was gaining so much weight, I was just so f*cking bloated. It’s a trip when people take sobriety for granted. Feeling trapped in my addiction and then getting sober—you appreciate it so much more, because I didn’t know if I would ever know what it’s like to feel normal again, ever.