Eminem’s mother Debbie Nelson has died.
The 52-year-old rap icon’s 69-year-old parent is said to have battled lung cancer and passed away on Monday (local time) in St Joseph, Missouri, according to TMZ.
The Lose Yourself hitmaker and Debbie had a rocky relationship — with the rapper documenting their ups and downs in hits including, Cleanin’ Out My Closet and Headlights.
Her passing comes five years after Eminem’s estranged father, Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr, passed away after a heart attack aged 67 in 2019.
Nelson became pregnant with Eminem — whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III — when she was 18, in 1972.
She sued her son for $11 million for defamation because of the lyrics to 2002’s Cleanin’ Out My Closet, on which he rapped: “Now, I would never diss my own mama just to get recognition. “Take a second to listen ‘fore you think this record is dissin’… but put yourself in my position, just try to envision… witnessin’ your mama poppin’ prescription pills in the kitchen.”
Eminem starred in the 2002 film 8 Mile, which was loosely based on his own life growing up in a trailer park and his strained relationship with his mother.
It told the story of Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith Jr (Eminem), a young white rapper trying to make it in the predominantly black hip-hop scene of Detroit.
In an interview in 2008, Nelson admitted she wanted to put their differences aside.
She told Village Voice: “I’m not ever gonna give up on my kids. I won’t give up on anybody.
“There’s hope for everybody. It’s a matter of just basically swallowing your pride. It’s like a cashed cheque. It’s over, it’s done. You need to move on.”
By 2013, Eminem released Headlights as an apology to his mom.
He spat: “I went in headfirst, never thinking about who what I said hurt… my Mom probably got it the worst.”
Eminem added: “And I’m mad I didn’t get the chance to thank you for being my Mom and my Dad… so Mom, please accept this as a tribute I wrote on this jet.”
When her son was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, Nelson congratulated him in a special video message.
She said: “Marshall, I want to say, I could not let this day go by without congratulating you on your induction into the Hall of Fame. I love you very much. I knew you’d get there. It’s been a long ride. I’m very, very proud of you.”
Nelson also had a second son called Nathan Samra-Mathers with Fred Samra Jr in 1986.
