Eminem’s daughter Hailie shares emotional reaction to dad’s song about addiction
Eminem’s daughter Hailie Jade is sharing her heartfelt thoughts on some of her father’s latest songs, specifically “Somebody Save Me,” saying she “audibly sobbed” while listening to the music.
In the Friday episode of her podcast, “Just a Little Shady,” the 28-year-old revealed that while she did watch the music video for “Somebody Save Me,” she could only bear to do so once due to its emotional weight.
The video features Eminem imagining an alternate reality in which he never gave up drugs, and how his addictions did and would have continued to impact his family. It shows Eminem watching childhood footage of Hailie and her siblings, at one point rapping, “Sorry that I chose drugs and put ’em above you / Sorry that I didn’t love you enough to give ’em up.”
“I watched it in its entirety and I don’t think I can do it again,” Hailie said. “I definitely cry every time I hear it at all.”
“Somebody Save Me,” featuring Jelly Roll, is a heartfelt apology from Eminem to his kids for missing out on much of their childhoods — as well as a reflection on all the other moments he would have missed if addiction had taken his life.
The rapper, now 51, has been open about his struggles, which included a near-fatal overdose at the end of 2007. At his lowest point, he was consuming up to 20 pills a day, including sleeping pills and Vicodin, reported TMZ.
Hailie credited her parents, Eminem and Kim Scott, for shielding her from the full extent of the chaos during her childhood, but says looking back, she realizes how bad things really were.
“I think that’s why I get emotional so much, like just thinking that [he] could have [died],” she said while tearing up. “Obviously that’s the point of the song, but I will say … if you’ve ever lost an addict or a loved one, I feel for you.”
Shortly after his overdose, Eminem decided to get clean for good, when Hailie was 12 years old. In April, he posted a photo on Instagram celebrating 16 years of sobriety.