Debbie Nelson, Eminem’s mother, has died at the age of 69.
A representative for the rapper confirmed to People, according to a report from TMZ published on December 3, that Debbie Nelson died Monday in St. Joseph, Missouri, from advanced lung cancer.
It was first reported that she was battling lung cancer in September, but neither she nor Eminem, real name Marshall Mathers III, had confirmed the news.
The 52-year-old artist had a difficult relationship with his mother, whom he had accused of abuse and neglect.
Eminem also denounced it in several of his songs, notably in Cleanin’ Out My Closet, released in 2002.
However, in his 2013 song Headlights, the rapper apologized to her for criticizing her in previous hits.
The mother-son relationship was further strained when Debbie Nelson sued Eminem for defamation in 1999 and published her memoir My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem in 2007.
She nevertheless tried to reconcile with her son by congratulating him on his entry into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
Eminem’s father, Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr., died at age 67 in 2019.
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