Debbie Nelson, mother of rapper Eminem, dies at 69 | Eminem

Debbie Nelson, the mother of rapper Eminem, whose difficult relationship with her son was widely known through his hit lyrics, has died. She was 69.

Eminem’s longtime rep Dennis Dennehy confirmed Nelson’s death in an email on Tuesday. He did not give a cause of death, although Nelson had been battling lung cancer.

Nelson’s strained relationship with her son, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, has been no secret since the Detroit rapper became a star.

Eminem has denigrated his mother in songs such as the 2002 single “Cleaning Out My Closet.” Eminem sings, “Watch your mama take prescription pills in the kitchen. It’s stupid that someone keeps going through her purse and missing shit. Going through public housing systems, victims of Munchausen syndrome. My whole life I was told I was sick even though I wasn’t.”

His emotions seemed to simmer in the lyrics to his Oscar-winning hit “Lose Yourself” from the film “8 Mile,” referencing his “mother’s spaghetti.” The song won Best Rap Song at the 2004 Grammy Awards.

Nelson filed and settled two libel lawsuits over Eminem’s statements about her in magazines and on radio talk shows. In her 2008 book, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, she attempted to set the record straight by providing details about the rapper’s early life.

The highly acclaimed rapper won Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2024 MTV Europe Music Awards earlier this month and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Last month he announced he was becoming a grandfather and revealed in a touching music video that his daughter Hailie Jade is pregnant.