As she wrote in her 2007 biography, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, “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 in the years since, Eminem has expressed how his perception of his mother changed as he grew older.
“At the end of the day, she’s my mother and I love her, because she’s mother,” he said during a 2009 appearance on BET’s 106 & Park. “I mean, even though we don’t really speak, she is my mother. I do love her and I think I got a better understanding of what she was going through or what she may be going through, now that I see myself and how I actually became. I think that’s there a little compassion factor that goes with that.”
For his part, Nate—who shares three kids, daughter Audrianna and sons Liam and Carter, with wife Ashley Mae Mathers—has been candid over the years about his love for his brother.
“He was the best role model I could have had,” he told his niece Hailie Jade on her podcast Just a Little Shady in February 2023 of Eminem, adding, “to help me be the dad that I am today.”
For more on Eminem’s family tree, keep reading.
