Eminem's mother and frequent song subject, Debbie Nelson, dies at 69

Debbie Nelson, the mother of Eminem, has died, a representative for the rapper confirmed. She was 69.

Nelson died in  St. Joseph, Mo., while battling advanced lung cancer, TMZ first reported.

Nelson was born in 1955 on a military base in Kansas. At 16, she wed the rapper's father, Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. and two years into their marriage, they welcomed their son, Marshall Mathers III in 1972. The future Grammy-winner developed his stage name at 17, initially going by his initials as M&M, before respelling it as Eminem.

Representatives for Eminem did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.

Eminem and his mother had a publicly strained relationship. The rapper's early works saw him accuse his mother of abusive behavior, most notably with his 2002 track, "Cleanin' Out My Closet," which included the lyrics, "Just try to envision / Witnessin' your mama poppin' prescription pills in the kitchen / B----in' that someone's always goin' through her purse and shit's missin' / Goin' through public housing systems, victim of Münchausen's Syndrome."

Eminem also referenced his mother in his 1999 hit, "My Name Is," with the lyric, "I just found out my mom does more dope than I do," leading Nelson to file a 1999 defamation lawsuit against her son, which she won. While the judge ruled in her favor, Nelson was only granted $25,000 of the $11 million dollars she asked for, ABC News reported.

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The rapper would later offer an apology in the form of “Headlights," a track from his 2013 album, The Marshall Mathers LP2. "I’m sorry, Mama, for 'Cleanin' Out My Closet' / At the time I was angry, rightfully? Maybe so / Never meant that far to take it, though," he rapped on the song. "’Cause now I know it’s not your fault and I’m not making jokes / That song I no longer play at shows and I cringe every time it's on the radio."

Prior to that song, Nelson gave her rebuttal to Eminem's accusations in the form of her 2008 memoir, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, which told her life story. The book also saw Nelson claim that the defamation lawsuit against her son was not her intent: She wrote that Eminem and his then-wife, Kim, were living in her house as it was about to be repossessed, so she hired a lawyer who she claims filed the defamation suit upon learning of her son's fame.

More recently, Nelson congratulated her son in 2022 following his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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"Marshall, I want to say, I could not let this day go by without congratulating you on your induction into the Hall of Fame," Nelson said in a now-deleted social media video. "I love you very much. I knew you'd get there. It's been a long ride. I'm very, very proud of you."

Eminem's estranged father died in 2019 at 67. Nelson is also survived by her son, Nathan Mathers, who she shared with ex Fred Samra.

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