Eminem is opening up about the insidious side of celebrity in his new documentary “Stans.”
In new interviews with him and his diehard fans, the movie (streaming Aug. 26 on Paramount+) explores how Eminem’s music has helped people grapple with addiction, loss and mental health. But it also shows the myriad ways that his supporters have crossed boundaries and made him feel unsafe.
In the film, he reflects on one particular instance when he went to the mall with his then-young daughter, Hailie Jade.
“It was the last time I went to the mall as me, like, not disguised,” Eminem, 52, says. “Every store we went in, we come out and there’s a bigger crowd, a bigger crowd, a bigger crowd.” Things got to the point where “I picked her up and I was like, ‘C’mon kiddo. Time to go.’ “
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The “Love the Way You Lie” rapper then recalls walking “faster and faster,” but the crowd speeding up as he carried Hailie, now 29. It was a “crazy” experience, he says.
“It literally felt like I was being chased out of the mall,” Eminem says. “That was one of those moments when I realized my life really has changed. I can’t do this anymore because I’ve got to protect my baby. That was a scary moment. It was scary for her, too. I asked and she doesn’t remember it.”
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Eminem was ubiquitous throughout the early 2000s, thanks to hit songs including “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” “The Real Slim Shady” and “Lose Yourself.” The latter was taken from his Oscar-winning 2002 film “8 Mile,” which starred the Detroit hip-hop mogul and was based on his life. That film’s success, combined with his subversive music videos on MTV, helped make Eminem a household name.
“He lampooned pop culture in his videos,” “Stans” director Steven Leckart tells USA TODAY. “He made fun of Marilyn Manson and Britney Spears; he wore a superhero costume – he was so anti-pop culture, yet he was sarcastically doing it with a bit of a wink. That made him a figure that pulled in a certain kind of audience who identified with that.”
“8 Mile” brought in “a whole new set of fans and made his existing fans feel like they knew him even more,” Leckart adds. “Few artists have done that – Taylor Swift hasn’t starred in a movie about her life. He was on billboards everywhere” and a real “movie star.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eminem recalls ‘scary’ fan experience in new ‘Stans’ documentary
