Debbie Nelson, mother of rapper Eminem, has died. Eminem's rocky relationship with his son was widely known through the lyrics of his hit songs. She was 69 years old.
Eminem's longtime representative Dennis Dennehy confirmed Nelson's death in an email on Tuesday. Nelson had been battling lung cancer, but did not disclose the cause of death.
Nelson's rocky relationship with his son, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, has been no secret ever since the Detroit rapper became a star.
Eminem disparages his mother in songs such as his 2002 single “Cleaning Out My Closet.” Eminem sings: “Witness your mom popping prescription pills in the kitchen. Someone is always going through her purse and complaining that something is missing. Passing through the public housing system and getting Munchausen syndrome. All my life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn't.
His emotions seemed to boil over as he referenced his “mommy's spaghetti” in the lyrics of his Oscar-winning hit song “Lose Yourself” from the movie 8 Mile. The song won Best Rap Song at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
Nelson filed and settled two defamation lawsuits over Eminem's comments about her in magazines and on radio talk shows. In her 2008 book, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, she attempted to set the record straight by providing details about the rapper's childhood.
The acclaimed rapper won Best Hip Hop Act at the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards earlier this month and will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
He announced last month that he was becoming a grandfather, and revealed that his daughter Hailey Jade was pregnant in an emotional music video.
