Eminem’s mother, Debbie Nelson, with whom the rapper had a complicated, often contentious relationship, has died. She was 69. Dennis Dennehy, Eminem’s longtime representative, confirmed Nelson’s death to Rolling Stone. A cause of death was not immediately available.
Nelson gave birth to Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers), her eldest son, on Oct. 17, 1972, when she was 18. In a 1999 Rolling Stone profile on Eminem, Nelson said that she married Eminem’s father, Bruce Mathers, when she was 15, and he was 22, and that the couple spent several years playing in a band together called the Daddy Warbucks.
Not long after Eminem was born, Bruce left the family, and Nelson raised the rapper and his half-brother, Nathan, largely on her own. They shuttled around Michigan and Missouri for years before finally settling in Detroit.
While Nelson maintained that she provided financial and emotional support for her son, Eminem said in that 1999 story that they fought constantly. He accused her of stealing his paychecks, frequently kicking him out of the house, and popping pills and taking other drugs, which triggered mood swings. (Nelson denied ever doing drugs.)
As Eminem turned to music, Nelson became a frequent target and antagonist. On “My Name Is,” Em’s line, “I just found out my mom does more dope than I do,” prompted Nelson to file a $10 million defamation suit against her son. While Nelson won the suit, she reportedly only received $25,000, most of which went to pay legal fees.
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