Eminem's mother Debbie Nelson has died at the age of 69

Debbie Nelson, Eminem's well-known and much-discussed mother, has died at the age of 69 from terminal lung cancer.

TMZ has confirmed that the mother of Eminem (Marshall Mathers) died on December 2, 2024. She passed away in a hospital in St. Joseph, Missouri, the city where she lived.

In September 2024, the delicate health situation of the rapper's mother was made public. She had received a cancer diagnosis at the beginning of the year. The progress of the disease has been speedy.

With the death of Debbie Nelson, a chapter in Eminem's life has come to a close. It marks a big part of his work, since his mother has been the protagonist of many of his songs.

Debbie Nelson was born in 1955 on a military base in Kansas. She lived in a dysfunctional family, she recounted in her memoirs 'My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem: Setting the Record Straight on My Life as Eminem's Mother', published in 2008.

After her parents separated, Debbie Nelson had to take care of her five younger siblings when she was barely 10 years old. When she turned 16, she married Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. He was the father of Eminem, who was born in a complicated delivery when Debbie was 18.

The couple eventually split up and Eminem stayed to live with his mother. They would eventually settle in Detroit. The relationship between mother and son was always complicated but things would only get worse as the years went by.

Eminem is known for writing autobiographical lyrics. He openly criticized his mother in several of his songs.

The most revealing was 'Cleanin' Out My Closet' (2002), where he accused her of abuse and trying to poison him with psychotropic drugs. He even went so far in the song as to wish she burn in h e I I.

Image: still from the video 'Cleanin' Out My Closet'

Debbie Nelson responded by taking her son to court for defamation, seeking $11 million in damages. She won the case, but the amount she received was capped at $25,000.

Seven years later, in 2009, Eminem continued his crusade against Debbie Nelson, and again, he went straight to the point. His song 'My Mom' pointed to his mother's addictions as the trigger for his own addictions.

Debbie Nelson denied the allegations in her 2008 memoirs. She said that no mother would want to be known for her drinking or medication problems. However, she did acknowledge her estrangement from her son.

However, time helped heal the wounds. In 2013, Eminem released 'Headlights', a sort of rapped apology. He thanked Debbie Nelson for "being my mother and my father", among other phrases that were much more conciliatory than in previous years.

The last time the two interacted publicly was in 2022 when Eminem was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

On that day, his mother shared a video on social media congratulating her son and saying: "I love you so much." Even though she deleted the video a few minutes later, it seemed that things between them were finally getting better.

The rapper himself has three children of whom Hailie Jade is his biological daughter. Hailie announced in October 2024 that she was pregnant with her first child, which would make Debbie Nelson a great-grandmother. Sadly, however, Nelson won't be there to meet the child.

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