Macklemore says he would be "dead" without rehab.
Macklemore
The 37-year-old rap star believes he wouldn't have made it through his addiction if his father hadn’t spent “10 or 12” thousand dollars to send him to rehab when he was 25 years old.
During a virtual appearance on 'People's Party with Talib Kweli', he said: "If it wasn't for my pops having the 10 or 12 racks [thousand] that it was when I first went to treatment and [his ability] to spend that on me, I'd be f****** dead. I wouldn't be here right now. That's not to be f****** dramatic, that's just what it is. I was about to die."
The 'Same Love' hitmaker entered rehab for drugs and alcohol addiction in 2008 and celebrated three years of sobriety until a relapse in 2011.
He had struggled with substance abuse throughout the majority of his 20s as he didn't realise there was a community of support to help him get sober.
He continued: "I didn't know there were a bunch of people, thousands in my city that were convening in the basements of churches and random old halls and talking about this disease that I had. I didn't even know it was a disease at the beginning.
"There was a community that was there to support and love me unconditionally that had the same f****** disease. There is a therapeutic value of one addict to another sharing their experience, strength and hope [and] that has saved my f****** life and continues to save my life."
Macklemore went on to address the stigma that is often associated with substance abuse, as many musicians have felt unsure about revealing they have gotten sober because much of their music was centred around drug use.
He explained: "People don't know that it's okay to go to treatment. I remember hearing a certain rapper, I think it was Smokepurpp, and he was talking about [how] he went to treatment but didn't want to tell anybody. He was having that internal conversation like, 'What do I do now?' My whole s*** is [about] sipping lean and smoking backwoods [cigars]. How do I still remain relevant?"
Tagged in macklemore