Inside Eminem’s rocky relationship with mum Debbie Nelson…$10m battle over drugs rap to song he vowed never to perform

His sad past has always served as the inspiration for his hit raps, and Eminem’s most recent setback may portend more heartbreaking lyrics in the future.

After a fight with severe lung cancer, the rapper’s mother, Debbie Nelson, passed away at the age of 69.

According to TMZ, the mother of two died in St. Joseph, Missouri.

The 51-year-old rapper has not yet made a public statement regarding his mother’s passing.

After a number of court cases, Eminem—real name Marshall Mathers—was separated from her for years.

Even in his lyrics, he discussed their tense relationship; in his popular song Without Me, he famously yelled, “F**k you, Debbie.”

However, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, they got back together, and he promised to stop singing some of her songs.

We examine their connection and all of the raps she inspired, some of which weren’t positive.

When Debbie became pregnant with Eminem at the age of 18, she almost passed away from toxicoma blood poisoning during the 72-hour labor.

Shortly after giving birth to Marshall, she entered a coma and remained unconscious for several days.

Soon later, the rapper’s father left him.

Accused mum of drugs

Moving from Kansas City to Detroit, Eminem and Debbie struggled financially and rarely stayed in one place for more than a year or two.

Eminem claims that his mother was so in need of money that she would fabricate charges against businesses in order to get funding from them.

In his 1999 song My Name Is, the musician also accused his mother of drug use.

He sang: “I just found out my mum does more dope than I do / I told her I’d grow up to be a famous rapper / Make a record about doin’ drugs and name it after her.”

Later that year, Debbie filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against him, alleging that he was disparaging her on The Slim Shady LP.

Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s attorney at the time, stated: “Eminem’s music reflects his life. His statements can all be confirmed to be accurate.

“The absolute defense against a defamation lawsuit is truth. Eminem is not surprised about this lawsuit. Since his track “My Name Is” became popular, his mother has been threatening to sue him.

“It is simply the outcome of his and his mother’s tense relationship that has lasted a lifetime. In any case, your mother’s lawsuit is still traumatic, thus it will only be resolved through the legal system.”

Debbie got a $25,000 settlement in 2001, but her lawyer kept $23,354.25 of it.

‘Addicted to Valium’

In his song Cleanin’ Out My Closet the next year, Eminem asserted that Debbie has Mnchausen syndrome via proxy, a mental health condition in which a caretaker fabricates or creates an illness or harm to the person they are caring for.

He sang: “Going through public housing systems, victim of Munchhausen s Syndrome / My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn t til I grew up, now I blew up.”

Additionally, he stated in the song My Mom that when he was a kid, Debbie would put Valium in Eminem’s meals because she was hooked to the drug.

The lyrics read: “The water that I drank, f**kin’ peas in my plate, she sprinkled just enough of it to season my steak.”

This is how he got addicted to Valium, he later said.

In interviews, Debbie refuted his assertions, and in her 2008 memoir, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, she sought to correct the record.

At first, I complied with it for Marshall’s sake; if I committed one motherly error, it was caving in to my oldest son’s every desire,” she wrote.

“I tried my best to make up for the fact that he had never met his father. When he created an entirely new life for himself, I wasn’t pleased because what mother wants to be recognized as a welfare-dependent pill-popper?

“I was heartbroken, to be honest. The lies began to flow quickly, and Marshall wasn’t the only one. This book is my attempt to correct him, as I believe he has forgotten our enjoyable times together.

The rapper collaborated on the music video despite the fact that he had previously disparaged his mother in his songs and had been vocal about their arguments.

Debbie received a breast cancer diagnosis in 2010.

Eminem had not spoken to his mother or any other family members for several years, even though he had been giving her financial support.

At the time, a source told In Touch Weekly, “People around her aren’t even sure if Eminem is even aware of what is happening to his mother.” “He treats his mother well. They don’t really communicate, but he makes sure to look after her.

“Talking would be beneficial for both of them. They might be able to make amends because of this.

Moving on

Soon after, their tense friendship improved, and Eminem’s 2013 song Headlights put an end to their feud.

He expressed his love for her in the song, as well as his forgiveness and regret for going too far.

He rapped: But in any case, I don’t hate you since you’re my mother, so you’re still lovely to me. Few things may weigh as much as the cross you shoulder, yet you did your best to raise us both and provide foster care with all you said and did.

In this song, he also swore he would never again sing Cleanin’ Out my Closet.

He has said that he cringes whenever he hears it on the radio and that he last sang it at the Leeds Festival in 2013.

According to a line from his song “Lose Yourself,” Eminem then renamed his hometown eatery Mom’s Spaghetti in 2021.

Debbie congratulated her son on Eminem’s induction into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame the following year.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate you on being inducted into the Hall of Fame, Marshall,” she added.

You have my undying love. You’ll get there, I knew. The journey has been lengthy. I am incredibly proud of you.