Eminem sat down with Anderson Cooper for a special segment of CBS’ “60 Minutes” this past weekend and shared stories about his rhyming process, being a White rapper and being bullied in school, among other things.
Video: Eminem on “60 Minutes”
“I was beat up in the bathrooms, in the hallways, shoved in the lockers — for the most part for being the new kid,” Eminem, born Marshall Mathers, told Cooper about getting bullied in grade school, mainly because he moved around so much that he was a lot of times the new kid on campus.
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What helped Eminem overcome this tough phase of his life, though, was rapping. “I found something.. ‘yeah, this kid over here may have more chicks or better clothes, but he can’t do this like me,'” he recalled about when he began to rap. “I started to feel like, ‘Maybe Marshall is getting a little respect.'”
“Respect” is what he’s been searching for his entire career, Eminem said. “It might sound corny,” he sid, “but I felt like a fighter coming up.”
The segment is appropriately timed, especially since so many young kids, particularly LGBT youths, have committed suicide lately because of bullying in schools. Although Eminem is not Gay and has actually in the past been condemned for seeming be anti-Gay (something he says he isn’t during the interview), I think the message will resonate with many kids contemplating an easy way out. Even the biggest of stars have gone through bullying and survived it and, furthermore, have come out on top — so can you.
“I don’t want to go overboard with it, but I do feel if I can help people that have been through similar situations, why not?” Eminem said in reference to his latest “Not Afraid” track.
Watch the behind-the-scenes clip here:
Video: Eminem, behind-the-scenes