Rapper Eminem almost died from a drug overdose in 2005 after downing a handful of mystery pills - equal to "shooting up four bags of heroin". The "Without Me" hitmaker, real name Marshall Mathers III, has revealed the full extent of his battle with drugs in a candid new interview with Vibe magazine.

He reveals he was popping as many as 20 pills a day at the height of his addiction, including high-strength painkillers Vicodin, Ambien and Valium.

He says, "The numbers got so high, I don't even know what I was taking."

But he acknowledged the severity of his problem when he relapsed after a stint in rehab - and accepted a potentially fatal dose of unidentified blue pills that turned out to be methadone: "My doctor told me the amount of methadone I'd taken was equivalent to shooting up four bags of heroin."

Eminem managed to get his substance abuse under control, but suffered another setback after sustaining a serious knee injury that required surgery.

Doctors refused to prescribe him painkillers as a result of his drug history - and he found himself turning his home upside down in a desperate search for medication.

He recalls, "I started looking around my house to see if I had a stash box of Vicodin... I'm ransacking my house, finally find something in the basement, in a little napkin, seven and a half Vicodin - the big extra strength ones - and a few Valium."

The hip-hop star has now been sober for a year and he credits his rap career with helping him overcome his drug demons: "I'm back. Rap was my drug. It used to get me high and then it stopped getting me high. Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that... Now rap's getting me high again."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)