LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — Rapper DMX has reportedly checked into a rehab facility just days after postponing a series of concert dates due to what was described at the time as a "medical emergency."
According to TMZ, DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, checked himself into a treatment center in southern California.
"It is important right now that he take some time off to focus on his health so that he can be a better father, friend and entertainer,” DMX's manager Pat Gallo said in a statement reported by Rolling Stone. "We are eternally grateful for the outpouring of concern and support that has poured in. We ask that you please keep X in your prayers as he embraces your support."
DMX's first major breakthrough as an artist came in 1998 with his major label debut It's Dark and Hell Is Hot, which included the single "Ruff Ryders Anthem" which landed on the Billboard 200 at #1 and went on to sell more than 5 million copies.
However, since then, Simmons has seen his success tempered by addiction issues and repeated legal entanglements that included three periods of incarceration for charges ranging from drug possession to animal cruelty.
Last year, Simmons was found unresponsive in a hotel parking lot in Yonkers. According to the New York Post, paramedics said they found the rapper with no pulse or respiration, but managed to successfully revive Simmons after administering Narcan, a drug designed to counteract opioid overdoses.
TMZ reported that Simmons denied drug use in the incident, with a rep stating that he had been afflicted by asthma. – Staff Writers
