Debbie Nelson Mathers, rapper Eminem's estranged mother, is in the latter stages of cancer, and his family is reportedly attempting to get in touch with him in the hopes that he will finally put his long-simmering resentment and animosity aside before they have to bury her, a new report claimed.
“She has a very limited amount of time,” an unnamed source told The National Enquirer, who claimed Debbie, 69, is either staying at a cancer center or with relatives.
Though he seldom visits his hometown of St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was born, the 15-time Grammy winner reportedly helps out financially with his mother's bills.
“People around her aren’t sure if Eminem is even aware of what is happening to his mother. He makes sure he takes care of her, but they don’t really talk. It would be good for both of them [to communicate]. This could give them the chance to reconcile,” the anonymous insider told the entertainment news outlet.
Marshall Bruce Mathers III, better known as the hip-hop legend, and his mother's relationship has been rocky for a long time. After one of his songs referred to Debbie as a dope addict, Debbie sued him for defamation, suing him for $11 million; however, she only received $1,600 from the settlement.
Debbie wrote the autobiography "My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem: Setting the Record Straight on My Life as Eminem's Mother" in 2007 while she was fighting breast cancer.
“I heard Marshall was not too happy about Debbie writing the book and rehashing their relationship, or more accurately, lack of one. It just reopened old wounds and, in hindsight, I think she regrets it,” Eminem’s grandmother Betty Kresin exclusively told The National Enquirer in 2009.
It was previously reported that Marshall Mathers Jr., better known as Bruce, left his mother to live in poverty when he was a little boy. Despite his father's dying wishes for them to make up, the star has never forgiven him.
Wheelchair-bound Mathers, who lived in a dilapidated home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, passed away from a heart attack in 2019 at the age of 67.
“He never knew his father, and I did all I could to make up for it. I wasn’t happy when he made up a whole new life for himself — what mother wants to be known as a pill-popping alcoholic who lives on welfare?” Debbie revealed in her book.
Business Times has reached out to Eminem for comments.
