Eminem is arguably one of the greatest and most controversial rap artists to have come out of the hip-hop industry. The 8 Mile star's lyrics are definitely not for everyone, but they certainly come from a very raw and real place. However, it seems as though the years may have softened the man known as Marshall "Eminem" Mathers, as the music star has been looking a lot more put together and mature these days, especially when compared to his initial rise to fame and more rebellious era of the late '90s and early 2000s. Here's the real reason why Eminem looks so different now.
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00:00Every time there's a rare public sighting of Marshall Eminem Mathers, his fans are shocked
00:05by his appearance.
00:06He's matured a lot since the release of his 1999 album The Slim Shady LP, but his drastic
00:12physical changes have made him nearly unrecognizable to his fans, prompting some to speculate about
00:18his overall well-being.
00:20What's really going on?
00:23Showing stubble
00:24One of the main reasons Eminem looks like a completely different person is because his
00:28fans aren't used to seeing him with facial hair.
00:32Since the start of his decades-long career, he's rocked a clean-shaven face.
00:37However, Eminem debuted his new scruffy look on his Instagram account in 2017.
00:43In the photo, the 8 Mile star posed alongside rap pioneer Dr. Dre and breakout artist Kendrick
00:49Lamar.
00:50Soon enough, the comments section was flooded with fans who either detested his new rough
00:54and rugged look or adored it.
00:57Despite their opinions, it appears that the beard may be here to stay.
01:01Drug use took a toll
01:02Eminem's lyrics are laced with references to drug use, and even his album names reference
01:08his struggle with addiction.
01:09From 2009's Relapse to 2010's Recovery, music fans have stuck by him through every step
01:15of his journey.
01:16However, many listeners weren't aware of the extent of his drug battle until he opened
01:21up while filming the 2012 documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs.
01:25I don't know at what point exactly it started to be a problem, I just remember liking it
01:31more and more.
01:32People tried to tell me that I had a problem."
01:34Before he knew it, his apparent addiction to prescription medication was so out of control,
01:39it led to an overdose.
01:40How close do you think you were to dying?
01:43They said two hours.
01:44If I would have got to the hospital two hours later, that would have been it."
01:47Although Eminem appears to have fared better than others who've suffered from drug addiction,
01:52his previous demons may have robbed him of his once-boyish appearance.
01:57Harder times
01:58Eminem's love life has been a hot mess since his teenage years, after he fell in and out
02:04of love with ex-wife Kim Scott.
02:06They had a child, Hailey, in 1995, and in 1999, they got married.
02:11They divorced in 2001, only to remarry again in 2006 and divorce again later that year.
02:18He's infamously rapped about his tumultuous relationship with Scott, most notably in the
02:23song, Kim.
02:24But his rocky romance wasn't the only form of stress in his life.
02:28In 2006, his close friend and D12 group member DeSean Pru Holton was killed after an altercation
02:35at a nightclub on 8 Mile Road.
02:38Eminem took it hard.
02:39Speaking with The Guardian, he said he was already dealing with depression and the prescription
02:43drugs he was taking just made things worse.
02:46Heartbreak, loss of a loved one, and depression.
02:50Sounds like this combo of life stressors could certainly have done a number on his appearance.
02:55Run Marshall Run
02:56Eminem told Men's Journal that at the time of his hospitalization and detox in 2007,
03:03he weighed close to 230 pounds, and he had a good idea why he was packing on the weight,
03:09saying,
03:10"'The coating on the pills leaves a hole in your stomach.
03:13So to avoid a stomachache, I was constantly eating, and eating badly."
03:17During his recovery, the rapper made it a priority to whip himself into shape.
03:22"'I started running.
03:24It gave me a natural endorphin high, but it also helped me sleep.
03:28So it was perfect.'"
03:30The rapper admitted he got a bit carried away with all of the exercise.
03:33"'I was running, I was, there was one point where I was running, like, it was a little
03:38too much, it was a little extreme.
03:39It was a total of 17 miles.'"
03:41Eminem dropped to 149 pounds, but his transformative weight loss came at a cost.
03:47He told the magazine,
03:48"'I ran to the point where I started to get injured.
03:52All the constant pounding from the running began to tear up my hip flexors.'"
03:57New hair?
03:58Who dis?
03:59One of the reasons Eminem really stood out when he released his first mainstream album
04:03was because of the way he looked.
04:04"'How was it when you were starting out?
04:06Because I know when, before you came along, there was only one white rapper I was familiar
04:10with, and that was Vanilla Ice, okay?
04:12He was great.'"
04:13But we're not just talking about him being one of the few white rappers in the hip-hop
04:16community, we're talking about his hair.
04:19He rocked a head full of peroxide blonde locks up until 2017.
04:23So when he made a public appearance sporting his natural brown hair color for the premiere
04:28of The Defiant Ones, people barely recognized him.
04:31It's going to take us a while to get used to his new do, but shockingly, the brown hue
04:36is already starting to grow on us.
04:39Cleaning up his act
04:40After battling addiction and enduring a failed rehab attempt, the rapper revealed in 2010
04:46that he was finally headed down the path to sobriety.
04:50He told Reuters,
04:51"'When I first got sober, I got really happy because I was not a prisoner of addiction
04:56anymore, so life was brand new to me.'"
04:59Being a father also motivated him to clean up his act.
05:02Aside from Hailey, the rapper has also raised Whitney, a daughter Kim Scott conceived during
05:08a previous relationship, and Scott's niece, Elena, who the former couple adopted.
05:14So we're now looking at a healthy, happy, and sober Eminem.
05:18His physical changes are starting to make a lot more sense now, aren't they?