The rapper’s representative, Dennis Dennehy, confirmed the death to newsmen, but Eminem is yet to comment publicly on his mother’s death.
Although the cause of death has yet to be confirmed, Nelson was known to have lung cancer.
The fraught relationship with his mother was most starkly laid bare on one of his biggest hits, Cleanin’ Out My Closet in the year 2002, where Eminem furiously accuses her of drug abuse and neglect.
Nelson sued her son for defamation in 1999 over another of his hits, My Name Is, but later said it was her lawyer’s idea and settled out of court for $25,000.
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The rapper, who battled his problems with prescription drugs, connected his own experiences of addiction with his mother’s, stating that he is on what he was because of his mom on the 2009 track, My Mom.
In 2008, Nelson wrote a memoir titled My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, in which she said she was heartbroken over her son’s claims about her.
However, the toxicity in their relationship appeared to simmer down over the years, especially with his 2013 track Headlights where he showed remorse for some of his earlier lyrics.
They appear to have remained mostly estranged for the rest of her life, but when Eminem was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, she publicly congratulated him.