Debbie was born in 1955 on a military base in Kansas and is Eminem’s mother.
According to her 2008 memoir, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, she married Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr., the father of the “Without Me” artist, when she was 15. She became pregnant with Eminem 16 months later and moved to Michigan, where her maternal grandmother lived.
Debbie and Eminem’s strained relationship was chronicled in several of his songs, including the 2002 smash hit “Cleanin’ Out My Closet.” In the song, Debbie claims that she abused prescription drugs when she was younger, but Debbie denies this in her autobiography.
“What mother wants to be known as a drug-taking alcoholic living on welfare?” she wrote. “None of this was true, but the feelings continued to grow and eventually Marshall and I became estranged.”
However, Eminem has since expressed regret about airing the family drama. In his 2013 song “Headlights,” he rapped, “I jumped in headfirst without thinking about who was hurt or if what I said hurt / Which verse might have hurt my mom the most.”
Nelson passed away in 2024 at the age of 69 after a battle with cancer.
