Macklemore revealed he has been sober for nearly two years after relapsing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I relapsed during the first summer of Covid,” the “Thrift Shop” rapper, 39, wrote in a TikTok video posted Sunday. “Today I have 694 days clean.”
Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, went shirtless in the video, showing off his chest tattoos. He dubbed the clip with his new song “Chant” featuring Tones and I.
He captioned the post, “Love you guys ❤️,” adding the hashtags “#recovery and #chant.”
Several of Macklemore’s TikTok followers shared their own stories in the comments section, to which the artist responded with words of hope and optimism.
“I’m proud of you. My brother ODd and died 10 years ago. I’m so broken 💔😪💔. Broken isn’t a big enough word,” one person wrote.
“So sorry…sending love to you and your family. There’s no words ❤️,” Macklemore responded.
“32 days today ✊🏻💛,” another commented, with Macklemore writing back, “Amazing 🙏🏻.”
When another netizen asked what substances he was addicted to, the Grammy winner shared, “Anything that makes me feel different.”
Macklemore has been open about his substance abuse issues in the past, most recently rapping in “Chant,” “Almost OD’d that night in the hospital / Wasn’t gonna die, more life in the arsenal / Got another shot to pull off the impossible.”
The Seattle native first shared on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast in April 2021 that he had relapsed during the pandemic, saying it was hard to stay focused on sobriety when his 12-step program meetings were virtual.
“It was within two months of my COVID relapse, and the disease of addiction is crazy,” he said at the time. “I’ve spent most of the last 11 years in recovery, and it’s made me who I am.”
He continued, “I’ve compromised my life and other people around me, I’ve done things that I’m not proud of, but I do have that foundational level of 10 years of recovery, and I’m f—ing proud of that.”
Macklemore first sought treatment for addiction in 2008. He relapsed in 2011 and again in 2014 and has also been open about a near-fatal overdose he survived.
@macklemore Love you guys ❤️… share your stories below #recovery #chant ♬ CHANT (feat. Tones And I) – Macklemore
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