Joe Budden is opening up about a chapter of his life that he says nearly cost him everything.
During a recent appearance on Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe, the 45-year-old media personality reflected on his past addiction to prescription painkillers and how normalized it once felt. Budden said the height of his struggle came during what he described as the Percocet boom, when prescriptions were handed out freely and misuse was rarely questioned.
“They prescribed me with medicine, percs were on that list,” Budden said. “When I left the hospital, I was hooked to percs. I was addicted to Percocets and oxycontin.”
The former rapper admitted to carrying large quantities daily. “My Altoid case would be rocking,” he said. “I didn’t leave home with less than 40 pills on me. Big boys.”
Budden explained that dependency crept in quickly and withdrawals made stopping feel impossible. “I was killing myself slowly but surely,” he shared.
Looking back, he said timing may have saved his life. “I thank God every day that I experienced that at the time that I did because that was before fentanyl,” Budden said. “I’d have been dead. No doubt about it.”
He credited family and friends for helping him step away from pills. “It wasn’t overnight,” Budden said. “It was a struggle.”
Budden has spoken openly about his addictions over the years, often joking on his podcast about the fact that he used to smoke Angel Dust.