Lil Xan’s stage name might be inspired by his love of prescription medications, but it seems the death of several close friends has caused the rapper to realize that recreational pill-popping can have deadly consequences.
According to TMZ, Xan (nee Diego Leanos) has announced plans to enter rehab in order to seek help for an addiction to opioids.
It’s no coincidence that he reached the decision to enter treatment exactly one year after fellow emcee Lil Peep was found dead of an overdose.
And sadly, at the age of 22, Leanos has been impacted by the opioid crisis multiple times.
Rapper Mac Miller, who died of an overdose in September was a close friend and mentor of Xan’s.
Leanos has stated that he decided to get sober not long after learning of Miller’s passing.
He says he’s recently been hard at work on an album that he describes as a tribute to Miller.
But apparently, Leanos realizes that his health needs to take priority over his work, as he announced today that he’ll be putting that project on hold in order to focus on getting sober:
“I just dropped out of SoundCloud Uni to go to rehab, I leave in like 5 days and I couldn’t be happier with this choice,” Xan wrote on Instagram today.
“I love you guys for being so supportive and can’t wait too get back clean headed ready to Finish my album!”
The decision comes just days after Xan opened up about his ongoing substance abuse issues in an interview with TMZ:
“I relapsed, and that’s common … Any other addict would understand that sh-t just happens,” Leanos told the outlet.
“You just relapse. You don’t want to. It’s a process. You need treatment and help, and sometimes that doesn’t even help.”
Xan made it clear in recent interviews that while he is not as “strung out” as he’s been in the past, he has still not achieved the sobriety he aspires to:
“I’m not completely clean. Off Xanax, yes, but I’m still weaning off Norcos [a brand of codeine-based painkiller],” he said.
While fans have been supportive of Xan’s decision, many expressed hope that he would decide to check into rehab immediately, rather than waiting until next week.
We wish him all the best as he embarks upon the long road to recovery.
