Eminem memoir addresses controversies.

In his memoir The Way I Am (above), out today, rapper Eminem provides one of the reasons he has shunned the spotlight for the past few years, describing how difficult it has been to come to grips with the loss of best friend and fellow rapper Proof (Deshaun Holton), who was gunned down at a Detroit after-hours club in April 2006.

"I have never felt so much pain in my life. It's a pain that is with me to this day. A pain that has become a part of who I am."

The Way I Am addresses a few lingering controversies, including Eminem's 2000 arrest for pistol-whipping a man who kissed his wife; his substance-abuse problem; his perceived homophobia ("Ultimately ... what you do in your bedroom is your business"); and ethnicity ("If I'm doing my part to lessen some racial tension I feel good about what I'm doing.")

Source: AP via Toronto Star