Eminem is peeling back the curtain on the darker side of fame in his new documentary, ‘Stans.’
The film, which drops August 26 on Paramount+, digs into both interviews with Eminem himself and some of his most hardcore fans.
It’s about how his music has been a lifeline for people dealing with addiction, grief, and mental health struggles. But, let’s be real, it also lays bare how some fans have pushed things way too far, crossing boundaries and making him genuinely feel unsafe.
Eminem Exposes Dark Side of Fame in New Documentary
There’s this one moment in the movie that really stands out. Eminem remembers taking his daughter Hailie Jade, who was just a kid then, to the mall.
He says, “That was the last time I went out in public as myself, without any disguise. Every store we went into, the crowd outside just kept growing, and growing.” It got so intense he had to scoop Hailie up and say, “Come on, kiddo. Time to go.”
The rapper sped up, and the crowd sped up too. “Honestly, it felt like I was being chased out of there,” he says. That was when it hit him his life had changed for good. He couldn’t do normal things anymore, not if he wanted to keep his daughter safe. “It was scary,” he remembers.
The film also doesn’t shy away from the weirdness of parasocial relationships those one-sided obsessions fans can develop with celebrities. Eminem and one fan, “Lurker,” talk about the real dangers that come with that kind of fixation.
Eminem on Fame’s Toll
Back in the early 2000s, Eminem was everywhere “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” “The Real Slim Shady,” “Lose Yourself.” The latter track came from “8 Mile,” the semi-autobiographical film that scored him an Oscar and cemented his status as more than just a rapper; he was a pop culture juggernaut.
Steven Leckart, who directed “Stans,” puts it like this: “He mocked pop culture in his videos. Whether it was Marilyn Manson, Britney Spears, or dressing up like a superhero, he was always poking fun at the mainstream, but with a smirk. That sarcasm drew in a very specific crowd, people who felt like they got the joke.”
“8 Mile” didn’t just expand his fanbase, it made the old fans feel like they knew him even better, Leckart says. “Not many artists have pulled that off. Taylor Swift hasn’t starred in a movie about her own life. Eminem was everywhere—on billboards, on screen, an actual movie star.”
