# Debbie Nelson

Deborah Rae Nelson (January 6, 1955 – December 2, 2024) was an American woman known for being the mother of rapper Marshall Mathers, known professionally as Eminem. She was featured and mentioned in many of his songs, including "Cleanin' Out My Closet" (2002), "Headlights" (2013), and "Kill You" (2000). She also gained recognition for her autobiography My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem (2007), in which she shared her experiences and perspective on their family.

## Early and personal life

Deborah Rae Nelson was born on January 6, 1955 on a military base in Salina, Kansas, the daughter of Betty (née Hixson; born 1938) and Robert "Bobby" Nelson (1935–2006). She grew up in a "large dysfunctional family". Her father was in the United States Air Force, and her mother worked as a bartender.
After her parents divorced in 1964, Nelson faced challenges with an abusive stepfather and eventually left home, and married Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. on September 20, 1970, when she was 15 and he was 22. They were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas Montana border. Their son, Marshall Bruce Mathers III, was born on October 17, 1972 in St. Joseph, Missouri,$^{:17}$ after Nelson nearly died during her 73-hour labor with him.$^{:1}$
Marshall Jr. abandoned his family when his son was 18 months old, leaving Debbie in poverty. When Nelson and Marshall Jr. divorced around 1975, Nelson continued using the name Debbie Mathers. In June 1979, she married Curt P. Werner, though their marriage was annulled shortly thereafter. She later hyphenated her surname as Mathers-Briggs after her marriage to John Briggs in November 1998; they divorced in 1999, and she eventually went by her maiden name after her son became famous.
Nelson and her son shuttled between states, rarely staying in one house for more than a year or two and mostly living with family members, in St. Joseph; Savannah, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri; Warren, Michigan; and Roseville, Michigan, before settling in Detroit. For much of Marshall's youth, they lived in a working-class, primarily black, Detroit neighborhood, where they were one of three white households on their block, and Marshall was beaten several times by black youths.
Nelson later had another son, Nathan Kane Mathers (né Samara; b.  February 3, 1986) with her then boyfriend Fred Samara. Nelson married a landscape gardener known as "BJ" in 1987 when her elder son was fifteen and her younger son was one. They divorced the following year. For several years, she ran a taxi company in St. Joseph, Missouri with husband John Briggs, to whom she was married from 1998 to 1999.
In 1982, Nelson sued the school board of Roseville for failing to protect her elder son (Marshall) from violence from his peers, which had led to injuries including a concussion. The lawsuit was dismissed on the grounds of governmental immunity, and her son dramatized his experiences in the song "Brain Damage" on The Slim Shady LP (1999).

## Relationship with Eminem

Nelson frequently fought with her son. A social worker described her as having a "very suspicious, almost paranoid personality". Marshall III later became a famous rapper known as Eminem, and Nelson's relationship with her son gained public attention after Eminem's songs like "Cleanin' Out My Closet" referenced their bad connection, criticizing her parenting.
In September 1999, Nelson sued her son for $10 million over the lyrics of his single "My Name Is" and several media interviews, in which he had made allegations of child neglect and drug use. Judge Mark Switalski of the Macomb County Circuit Court ruled in her favor and awarded her $25,000, of which over $23,000 went to her attorney Fred Gibson.
Eminem attacked the lawsuit in the song "Marshall Mathers" on The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), released in censored form due to insults toward Gibson. On the same album, Eminem dramatized raping and killing his mother on the song "Kill You".
Nelson released her own CD, Set the Record Straight, with Missouri-based rap duo ID-X in 2000. She said the recording was for her side of the story to be heard without being changed by the media.
In her 2007 autobiography, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, Nelson said Gibson initiated the legal action, and she went through with it to stop her home from being repossessed.
Eminem publicly reconciled with his mother in his 2013 song "Headlights", apologizing for issues faced in the past. In 2022, she congratulated Eminem for his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

## Illness and death

In September 2024, it was made public that Nelson was diagnosed with lung cancer. Eminem provided financial support during her illness, and there had been reported signs the two had reconciled. She died from complications of lung cancer in St. Joseph, Missouri on December 2, 2024, at the age of 69. Nelson's younger son, Nathan, wrote "Hatred and mixed emotions today" on Instagram on December 3. Eminem has yet to officially respond to her death.

## Works

* Set the Record Straight (2000) (with ID-X)
* My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem (2007)