Eminem Turns to Elton John During Rehab

Eminem, VIBE Magazine's featured cover artist in the new June/July Real Rap issue, tells VIBE of his dark, uncertain times during his early days of rehab. Here's an outtake from his self-penned cover story where he discusses his relationship with Elton John and how he turned to him for support.

"When I came home from the hospital the second time and I realized that I was giving up drugs forever I reached out to Elton cause I knew he had a problem before. We had kept in contact ever since the Grammys and shit. We'd call each other up every now and then, and I went to a concert of his when he came to town--me and Kid Rock went. I knew he was in recovery and I just wanted to reach out to somebody who was on the same level as far as fame and shit like that go. And just asked him how in the hell he did it. He was really supportive, and still is to this day. Especially in the beginning, there was a couple of things he talked me out of doing. There was a Nelson Mandela thing that I was rumored to go to and I had just got out of the hospital. He was like "Don't do it. Do not do it." I was actually considering it and thinking How the fuck am I going to do it? I am in no shape to go over there. It was a concert that Queen was doing, overseas. But, um, you know I was actually thinking about going. But at that point in time I couldn't even walk because my knee was still fucked up. I still don't have full extension in my knee, and it's been a year. I couldn't walk, let alone perform in front of a crowd. But I didn't want to disappoint anybody. He talked me out of doing it. He was like, "I'm telling you're gonna get over there and you're gonna wanna use. Don't do it, it's too early. You don't even have enough clean time under your belt." I was fully right mentally. He called a lot. A few times a week. Checked in to see how I was doing and shit. He knew how hard it was in the beginning for him to quit."