Em Fights Med Dependency

Eminem has checked into a hospital to undergo treatment for sleep medication dependency. The news came August 18th, two days after Em canceled his European tour citing exhaustion.

The rapper, aka Marshall Mathers, finished his nationwide “Anger Management” tour in early August. The scrapped 10-date European trek was supposed to kick off September 1st in Hamburg and end September 17th in Dublin.

While attendance at the tour’s U.S. shows may have been lackluster, the Euro dates included several sold-out stadium shows.

Interscope released a statement saying Mathers was being treated for exhaustion, complicated by other medical issues.

The Detroit Free Press cited sources as saying the rapper was struggling with insomnia as the tour went into July. It reached the point where he was getting about an hour of sleep each night.

Apparently, sleep disorders run in the family.

“We don’t require much rest, so we tend to go until we drop,” a family member told the paper. “Kind of like racehorses, racing until falling over.”

As the tour rolled on, Mathers began increasing his intake of Ambien, for which he had a legal prescription, multiple sources told the Free Press. But as his usage increased, the higher doses reportedly backfired and kept him from getting any sleep.

Meanwhile, the rapper has denied a report saying he is planning to retire from the music biz. He did say, however, that he may take a breather from his multiplatinum career.

“When I know my next move, I’ll tell everyone my next move,” he said.