While Eminem has yet to comment on the death of his 69-year-old mother Debbie Nelson this week from complications from terminal lung cancer, the rapper’s half-brother Nathan “Nate” “Nathan “Nate” Mathers issued a brief five-word reaction to the incident.
“Today is full of hate and mixed emotions,” Nate Mathers wrote briefly on his Instagram Stories on Tuesday (December 3), in keeping with the sometimes contentious dynamic between mother and son in the Mathers family. Nelson died Monday in St. Joseph, Missouri, and as of press time, Marshall had yet to make a public statement about the loss of the woman who, before their recent reconciliation, was a frequent target of scorn and ridicule in his songs.
Music producer Nate is Nelson’s youngest son, whom she had with partner Fred Samra when Eminem was 13. At the age of 16, she married the host’s father, Marshall Mathers Jr., and gave birth to Eminem (born Marshall Mathers) two years later in 1972. When his mother’s brother turned 16, Eminem became Nate’s legal guardian.
Eminem often feuded with his mother in music, lashing out at her in hits like 2002’s “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” in which he rapped about his mother’s abuse about the prescription drugs and said, “Isn’t that why your mother abused prescription drugs?” Made that CD for me, Mom? Guess what, you’re getting older now and it’s cold when you’re alone/And Nathan is growing up so fast, he’s gonna know you’re a liar.
He also targeted her in his iconic 1999 Slim Shadow Records The song “My Name Is” raps, “I’ve been lied to 99% of my life/I just found out my mom raps more than me/I told her I was gonna be a famous rapper when I grow up/Be a Document the drug abuse and name it after her.
In 1999, Nelson sued Eminem for $11 million for defamation; a judge ruled in her favor, but in a 2001 verdict, she was only awarded $25,000. She later delved into their thorny relationship in her 2007 memoir My son Marshall, my son Eminem. Years later, on the 2013 single “Headlights” from Marshall Mathers LP 2, he extended an olive branch and apologized with the lyrics: “I dove in without ever thinking about who or what I said hurt/in which Of the poems, my mom is probably the worst/bears the brunt of it, but despite our stubbornness, have I gone too far? You are still beautiful to me because you are my mom.
The thaw continued in 2022, with Nelson praising her son’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a video in which she said: “Marshall, I just want to say, I can’t let this happen without congratulating you on your success. I love you so much. It’s been a long journey and I’m so proud of you. [granddaughter] Haley Jade, my big girl. I want to tell you, Haley, your podcast is doing great and God bless you. I love you very much.
