Broadly thought to be one of many biggest and most influential rappers of all time, Eminem has remained each a gradual presence and a controversial determine within the music business for over 25 years, with the famed performer having bought over 220 million information worldwide whereas incomes quite a few accolades, together with 15 Grammys, a Primetime Emmy, and an Academy Award. In 2025, Steven Leckhart directed the engrossing documentary Stans, which explores the rapper’s life and legacy by way of the eyes of his superfans.
The 102-minute movie was launched on Paramount+ on August 26, 2025, and acquired rave opinions from critics and followers, with the doc nabbing an 88% Rotten Tomatoes rating and 94% Popcornmeter rating from audiences whereas offering his devoted fanbase an intimate take a look at his private struggles, jaw-dropping profession highs, and complicated relationship together with his “Stans.” Let’s check out the documentary’s most stunning revelations.
Eminem Remembers the Second Fame Modified His Life Perpetually
Within the intimate documentary, Eminem particulars the second wherein he realized that his fame had utterly modified his life, because the rapper described a daunting time when he was swarmed by followers after he went to the mall together with his daughter Hailie. “It received to the purpose the place I picked her up and I am like, ‘Come on kiddo, time to go,’ and as I am strolling quick and quicker they’re strolling quicker and quicker and I really feel like I am being chased out the f***ing mall.” Eminem revealed it was the final time he ever went to a mall as himself and “not in a disguise,” earlier than additional describing the extraordinary second:
“And that was one of many factors I believed my life actually has modified, I am unable to do that anymore, I gotta shield my child. In order that was a scary second. Scary for her too. She would not keep in mind, she was too little to recollect it, however I keep in mind it and it was f***ing loopy.”
The Rapper Will get Candid Over His Habit Struggles
The legendary rapper additionally received candid when it got here to his struggles with habit, as he had grown depending on prescription tablets like Xanax, Ambien, Vicodin, and Valium all through numerous factors between 1999 and 2008, when he finally received clear and has remained sober for 17 years. Eminem regarded again on painful reminiscences that led to his steady habit hurdles, just like the dying of his finest buddy Proof in 2006 and the overwhelming pressures of his fame.
“I received into this vicious cycle of, ‘I am depressed so I want extra tablets,’ after which your tolerance will get so excessive that you find yourself overdosing. I awakened within the hospital and I didn’t know what occurred. I awakened within the hospital with tubes in me and s*** and I couldn’t rise up, I needed to maneuver. After the overdose, I got here dwelling like I wanted one thing … like, I’m gonna die if I don’t do something.”
After by accident overdosing on methadone in December 2007 and lacking his daughter Hailie’s birthday, Eminem started his sobriety journey and retreated from the limelight to totally give attention to his well being and restoration. He needed to “relearn easy methods to stroll, discuss, and for essentially the most half needed to relearn easy methods to rap once more” following the overdose, and he used his love for Hailie as a significant motivation for getting and staying clear. Eminem’s ardour for music got here again in full drive, and he “began treating sobriety like an excellent energy and I took delight in the truth that I used to be in a position to stop,” with the rapper revealing:
“My writing had gotten horrible. Once I began to get it again, it was thrilling. As a result of I felt it. It will be conversations, simply having conversations with individuals or the TV. … It was hitting me actually quick and I used to be writing songs actually shortly.”
Eminem’s Most Fierce & Loyal Stans Are Interviewed
An attention-grabbing factor of the documentary is that the world’s largest Eminem followers had been interviewed, together with his most devoted followers sitting down to clarify what the rapper means to them and his impression on their lives. The movie additionally highlighted how Eminem had been contacted by excessive “Stans” all through the years, with one unsettling letter studying: “Our psychic connection is so sturdy. I generally assume you might be god. I like listening to you and appearing like we’re associates.” A lot of his most loyal followers expressed their concern for the rapper’s security due to overzealous followers.
Every “Stan” interviewed shared their respective tales about how they first found Eminem and his music, with the contributors respectfully and passionately expressing what the rap icon means to them and the way he is impacted their lives. One girl interviewed confessed that she had 22 tattoos of the Grammy-winning artist and is now within the Guinness E book of World Information due to them, with the fan saying she met her husband by way of the Eminem fandom (and even married in Detroit) regardless of many individuals telling her she must be in a “psychological establishment” over her music obsession.
For his half, Eminem has grown to just accept the love he receives from his followers, even when he absolutely would not perceive it; he nonetheless finds it each unusual and flattering when followers go to the place his once-condemned home used to face and present up at his previous stomping grounds. After the discharge of The Slim Shady LP in 1999, the rapper was shocked by the large fan response and questioned on the time why, hastily, what he needed to say “now could be essential” earlier than including, “It was a bizarre, unusual form of adjustment, and my persona wasn’t well-equipped to deal with that.”
‘Stans’ Gives Followers an Unapologetic Have a look at Eminem’s Profession
Eminem has by no means been one to draw back from controversy and stays his refreshingly unfiltered self, and the documentary impressively examines his meteoric rise to superstardom, chronicling his early days dominating rap battles to assembly his beloved mentor and buddy Dr. Dre, to placing out one record-breaking album after one other. The inspiration behind his groundbreaking 2000 single “Stan” is additional explored, as he defined how he acquired many disturbing letters from followers who took the violent content material in his lyrics significantly, thus inspiring the cautionary story/music.
The time period “stan” was even added to the Oxford English Dictionary in June 2018, and was described as “an overzealous or obsessive fan, esp. of a specific movie star.” Eminem himself had regarded as much as and idolized fellow rap legend LL Cool J, and he could not assist however marvel if another person put him on a pedestal like he did the music pioneer. The rapper revealed within the doc: “I believed, ‘This needs to be about an obsessed fan who’s taking my s*** too literal and decelerate, I am simply Marshall, I’m not your f***ing savior.”
Stans delves into Eminem’s historical past of being “found” by Dr. Dre and Interscope Information’ Jimmy Iovine in 1998 and his phenomenal discography, from his record-breaking albums like The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Present to profitable an Academy Award for Finest Unique Music for his field workplace hit 8 Mile. Over 25 years within the music business, Eminem is aware of all the things he has is because of his passionate and dependable followers, with the rapper praising his followers for remaining by his aspect each step of the best way:
“A real die-hard fan actually does, I feel, perceive me and each facet of me. And understands that I’m only a common particular person. I am only a human being. The explanation they join with me is as a result of they see a few of themselves in me… As a result of they perceive me, and I really feel like I perceive them. I get them as a result of they’re actually me.”
Stans
- Launch Date
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August 7, 2025
- Director
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Steven Leckart