Debbie Nelson, the mother of rapper Eminem, has died. She was 69. Eminem’s representative confirmed the sad news on Tuesday. The statement never specified her cause of death, though it was known that Nelson had been battling lung cancer.
Born in Kansas in 1955, Nelson raised Eminem – real name Marshall Mathers III – as a single mother. The two shared a fraught relationship, which served as the basis of the rapper’s works, most notably his 1999 single “My Name Is” and the 2002 hit “Cleaning Out My Closet.”
In “Cleaning Out My Closet”’s emotionally-charged lyrics, Eminem described a childhood marred with Nelson’s drug use and dysfunctional parenting. “Witnessin’ your mama poppin’ prescription pills in the kitchen. … My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn’t.”
In 2008, Nelson shared her side of the story in her memoir “My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem.” In it, she attempted to set the record straight on what happened during her son’s early life, arguing that Eminem had “forgotten the good times they had.” The blurb also attracted controversy by featuring the line “single mother who wanted the world for her son, only to see herself defamed and shut out when he got it.”
In 2013, Eminem hinted in his song “Spotlight” that things have simmered down between him and his mother, although they remained estranged.
“Cause to this day we remain estranged, and I hate it though,” he raps. “But I’m sorry, momma, for Cleanin’ Out My Closet. At the time I was angry, rightfully? Maybe so. Never meant that far to take it, though.”