Recovering Drug Addict Eminem Steers Clear Of Alcohol

The Without Me hitmaker, real name Marshall Mathers III, struggled for years with an addiction to painkillers and anti-depressants - popping as many as 20 pills a day at the height of his problems, and nearly losing his life after an accidental methadone overdose.

He passed a major milestone in his ongoing battle for sobriety in October (09) when he celebrated 18 months clean - but he admits he's had to quit alcohol too in order to stay on the right path.

He tells Complex magazine, "I realised I can't touch anything, and that's why I'm clean right now and why I'm going to stay clean. Not with drugs or alcohol or anything like that. I just steer clear of it.

"My brain just doesn't know when to shut off. When I do something I have to do it all the way - that goes for music... everything. I have to push it to the extreme. That's how I realised I have an addictive behaviour. Somebody told me this once, that the thing that makes me bad is the same thing that makes me good at other things."