LOS ANGELES, Dec 4 — Debbie Nelson, the mother of rapper Eminem, has died at the age of 69.
Eminem’s representative Dennis Dennehy confirmed her death in an email yesterday but did not provide a cause, according to The Guardian.
Nelson had been battling lung cancer.
Nelson’s rocky relationship with her son, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, became widely known through his lyrics and legal disputes.
In his 2002 hit Cleaning Out My Closet, Eminem rapped, “Witnessin’ your mama poppin’ prescription pills in the kitchen. B******’ that someone’s always goin’ through her purse and s***’s missin’. Goin’ through public housing systems, victim of Münchausen’s syndrome. My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn’t.”
Munchausen’s syndrome, also called factitious disorder, is a mental health condition where a person pretends to be sick or injured, or deliberately makes themselves ill, to get attention, care or sympathy from others.
However, the rapper was likely referring to a related disorder, Munchausen syndrome by proxy, which is a mental health condition and a form of child abuse where the caretaker of a child, most often a mother, either makes up fake symptoms or causes real symptoms to make it look like the child is sick. These disorders can also happen concurrently.
Nelson filed and settled two defamation lawsuits against Eminem over his comments in magazines and on radio.
In her 2008 book, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, she detailed his early life to counter claims made about her.
Eminem referenced his mother again in his Oscar-winning song Lose Yourself, famously mentioning “mom’s spaghetti.”
The track, featured in the movie 8 Mile, won best rap song at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
The rapper has recently celebrated career milestones, including being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 and winning best hip-hop act at the 2024 MTV EMAs.
Last month, Eminem announced he would become a grandfather, sharing in a music video that his daughter Hailie Jade is pregnant.
