Eminem’s mom, Debbie Nelson, recently passed away after months of battling lung cancer.
She was 69 years old.
Eminem’s relationship with her was complicated to say the least.
Everyone knew that they had a rocky past, and the mother and son played out a lot of their drama in front of the public eye.
Source Speaks Out About Eminem And His Mother’s, Debbie Nelson, Relationship
Though it’s unclear if they’d made peace and were getting along toward the end of her life, Eminem reportedly always made sure that his mom was taken care of.
In September 2024, In Touch Weekly reported the news that Debbie was terminally ill with advanced lung cancer.
She was living in St. Joseph, Missouri at the time.
A source told the outlet that Eminem had not been to see her there.
The insider also claimed that people around her weren’t even sure if Eminem was aware of what was happening to his mother.
The source said: “He’s good to his mom. He makes sure he takes care of her, but they don’t really talk.”
Then the insider gave their opinion that it’d be good for both of them to get in touch and speak with each other, as it could give them the chance to reconcile.
According to In Touch Weekly’s source, Eminem had trust issues with different family members.
He was reportedly even sued by his own uncle and aunt after they accused him of trying to have them evicted from their home.
Eminem’s Brother Said, ‘Hatred And Mixed Emotions Today’
Though the rapper hasn’t made an official statement about his mother’s passing, his 38-year-old half-brother took to social media to share his feelings about the news.
And the few words that he wrote revealed just how unhealthy his relationship with her was.
The day after Debbie lost her life, Nathan Mathers shared a story on his Instagram with text that read: “Hatred and mixed emotions today.”
A report by Page Six revealed that when he was just eight years old, Nathan was placed into foster care.
8 years later, his older brother ended up adopting him.
Some people believe that Nathan’s Instagram Story about his mom showed that things were still complicated between them when she passed away.
Eminem Performs Days After Mother’s Death
5 days after Debbie passed away, Eminem was back on stage performing, according to PEOPLE.
But when it came time to sing his hit single, Without Me, he deliberately skipped over a line in it where he would’ve ordinarily thrown shade at his mom.
He’s reportedly skipped that line in a bunch of his more recent concerts.
It seemed that Debbie had trouble connecting with both of her sons.
Eminem Throws Shade At Mom Debbie Nelson
TMZ described her relationship with Eminem as being a rollercoaster of dysfunction.
Earlier on in his career, Eminem let the whole world know what he thought of his mom by writing lyrics about her in his songs that didn’t exactly paint her as being the best mother.
In his hit track, My Name Is, Eminem claimed that his mom smoked more than he did.
And he wasn’t talking about cigarettes.
His most famous diss song about Debbie was Cleanin’ Out My Closet.
In it, he wrote about how she supposedly used to have an addiction to prescription pills and would accuse him of going through her purse and stealing from her.
He also said that her second son was going to grow up and realize that she was a ‘phony.’
Later in the song, he told his mom that she would never get to see her granddaughter Hailie, and that she wouldn’t even be there at her funeral.
Debbie Nelson Files $11M Lawsuit Against Son Eminem
Debbie didn’t take her son’s allegations lying down.
The Daily Mail reported that in 1999, she actually filed an $11 million dollar lawsuit against Eminem.
She argued that what her son wrote about her for his album was false.
It was also damaging to her reputation, and therefore was a defamation of character.
RELATED: Russell Simmons Facing Multiple Lawsuits
The judge ruled in her favor.
However, instead of getting the millions that she was after, she only ended up getting $25,000.
And once she’d paid off all her lawyer bills, she reportedly was only left with $1,600, according to ABC News.
It’s been said that it also destroyed whatever was left of their fragile relationship.
Eminem’s Lawyer Speaks Out
Eminem’s attorney, Paul Rosenberg, revealed that the lawsuit did not come as a surprise to his client.
His mother had allegedly been threatening to sue him ever since the success of his single My Name Is.
Paul added: “It is merely the result of a lifelong strained relationship between him and his mother.”
The lawsuit didn’t stop Eminem from rapping about his mother in his work, though.
In 2001, he released another song on his third Album, The Marshall Mathers LP, where he continued to slander Debbie’s name.
And in 2009, he blamed his mom for making him become a pill addict in the song My Mom.
Eminem’s Mom Released Tell-All Book
The Daily Mail also wrote about how the rapper’s mom later released a tell-all book about what it was like to raise Eminem.
My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem was released in 2007.
Debbie admitted that she wasn’t happy when her son made up a whole new life for himself.
She asked what mother would want to be known as a pill-popper and heavy-drinker who lived on welfare.
Debbie went on to say that she was heartbroken, and that Eminem had forgotten the good times they had, so her book was her way of setting the record straight.
Later on in the memoir, she spoke about how she remembered her son running around the house in a batman cape as a little boy.
According to her, they were so close that friends and relatives commented that it was as if the umbilical cord had never been cut.
Eminem’s Mom Said, ‘He Never Knew His Father …’
Debbie confessed that if she made one mistake as a mother, it was giving in to her eldest son’s every whim.
She explained: “He never knew his father, and I did all I could to make up for it.”
In 2008, Debbie got candid in an interview with the Village Voice to promote her memoir.
She claimed that Eminem never gave her the credit that she deserved.
She said that somebody had to get behind him, to get him to where he eventually got to as a famous rapper.
She alleged that there were many times he felt defeated and wanted to give up.
So, somebody had to get behind him to push him.
Since he had no father in the picture, it was supposedly all left down to her.
Debbie Nelson Reveals Why She Wrote Tell-All Book
According to Debbie, one of the biggest reasons why she wrote the book was because she wanted to jog Eminem’s memory about the happy times.
And she added that she didn’t think there was anything he could do to her that he hadn’t already done through the media.
Another reason she reportedly released the memoir was to let people know that she
wasn’t the evil monster that she’d been made out to be.
It was all a big misconception.
Debbie explained: “Nothing is meant to hurt anybody. I do idolize my boys. They’re my world, just like my grandchildren.”
In a touching statement she shared with the Village Voice, Debbie insisted that she would never give up on her kids.
She said that she wouldn’t give up on anybody, and there was hope for everybody.
It was a matter of just basically swallowing pride.
Eminem’s Public Apology To His Mom
It seems like the bitterness Eminem had toward his mom changed in 2013.
That was the year he released a song called Headlights, which served as a kind of public apology to Debbie.
In the lyrics, he said that he was sorry for his song Cleanin’ Out My Closet, and that he was angry at the time when he wrote it.
He vowed to never sing it at his shows ever again.
He talked about how they were still estranged at the time, and how he hated it, because she didn’t get the chance to watch her grandchildren grow up.
In Headlights, he also confessed that he was mad that he didn’t get the chance to thank Debbie for being both his mom and his dad.
He also sang about how he didn’t hate her; she was still beautiful to him because she was his mom.
He recognized that she did her best to raise him and Nate.
Billboard reported that during a 2009 interview on BET’s 106 & park, Eminem revealed that even though he and his mom didn’t really speak, he did love her.
He said: “I think I got a better understanding of what she was going through or what she may be going through, now that I see myself and how I actually became.”
When the rapper was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, Debbie shared a heartwarming video where she congratulated her son on receiving the special honor.
She shared: “I love you very much. I knew you’d get there. And it’s been a long ride.”
