Eminem’s mother, Debbie Nelson, has passed away at 69 following a battle with advanced lung cancer.
TMZ reported on Tuesday morning (Dec. 3) that Debbie died the previous night in St. Joseph, Missouri, just three months after her cancer diagnosis was reported by multiple outlets.
In September, InTouch Weekly reported that Debbie was “terminally ill” and was spending her final days between the cancer centre and family members. Sources close to the family shared that she had very little time left.
The rapper, 52, has been open about his troubled relationship with Debbie, often referencing their rocky history in his music. In tracks like Cleanin’ Out My Closet (2002), he accused her of neglect and abuse. This was in spite of the defamation lawsuit Debbie filed in 1999 and later dropped.
Over the years, the pair made efforts to reconcile. Eminem expressed regret and apologised for Cleanin’ Out My Closet in the 2013 song Headlights.
“I will always love you from afar, ‘cause you’re my mom,” he painfully admitted in the song.
For her part, Debbie even congratulated Eminem on his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2022, expressing pride and love in a since-deleted video message.
Eminem’s father, Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr., passed away in 2019.