Eminem’s younger brother shared his feelings following the death of their mother, Debbie Nelson.
The “Lose Yourself” rapper and his brother Nathan Mathers lost their 69-year-old mom on Monday. Following the news going public, Nathan posted to Instagram that he was feeling “hatred and mixed emotions.”
Over the course of Eminem’s career, he’s spoken candidly about his complicated relationship with his mom, which led to his attempt to gain custody of Nathan after he was placed in foster care at the age of 8 years old.
“When he was taken away I always said if I ever get in a position to take him, I would take him,” Eminem told Rolling Stone in a 2004 interview. “I tried to apply for full custody when I was 20, but I didn’t have the means.”
He continued: “I cried just going to see him at the foster home. The day he was taken away, I was the only one allowed to see him. They had come and got him out of school. He didn’t know what the f–k was going on. The same thing that had happened in my life was happening in his.”
The Grammy winner, who was 29 at the time, eventually got custody and became his brother’s legal guardian when he was 16. “It was like, ‘Man, if I get in position, I’m gonna stop all this s–t.’ And I got in position and did.”
Eminem blamed his mother’s abusive behavior for their strained relationship, which he described in detail in several songs including his 2002 track “Cleanin’ Out My Closet.”
“Now, I would never diss my own mama just to get recognition,” he raps. “Take a second to listen ‘fore you think this record is dissin. But put yourself in my position, just try to envision. Witnessin’ your mama poppin’ prescription pills in the kitchen.”
Nelson denied Eminem’s accusations, suing her son for defamation in 1999 for $11 million over his song “My Name Is.”
In her biography “My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem,” released in 2007, she wrote about her tumultuous relationship with her famous son: “What mother wants to be known as a pill-popping alcoholic who lives on welfare? None of it was true, but the fibs kept getting bigger, and ultimately Marshall and I became estranged.”
And as for Eminem and Nathan, the brothers’ bond has remained strong. “He was the best role model I could have had,” Nathan said speaking of Eminem on the Just a Little Shady podcast in 2023, adding, “to help me be the dad that I am today.”
