Debbie Nelson, Eminem’s mother, died this Monday, December 2, due to complications from lung cancer. He was 69 years old.
Nelson has been the subject of several Eminem songs. On ‘My Name Is’, Eminem’s 1999 single, Marshall Mathers’ bar about his mother’s drug use led Nelson to sue Eminem; Nelson won the suit for $25,000.
In ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet’, from 2002, Eminem exposed his family trauma, in lines like: “I would never mess with my mother to gain recognition / but put yourself in my position / if you had seen your mother swallowing pills in the kitchen / and complaining that someone always reaches into her bag, and never finds anything.
Eminem’s mother was portrayed in the film inspired by her life, ‘8 Mile’, starring the rapper, and which chronicles the beginning of Eminem’s career before his rise to fame. In the film’s title song, ‘Lose Yourself’, Eminem affectionately refers to his mother as “Mom’s Spaghetti.” In 2021, Eminem opened a pasta restaurant with this name.
Eminem’s stepbrother, Nathan Mathers, has commented on his mother’s death on Instagram, noting that he feels a “conflict of emotions and hate.” Eminem’s father, Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr, passed away in 2019.
