Eminem has taken shots at just about everyone over his rap career but his mom decided to launch a lawsuit against him after one song.

If you know anything about the rapper, you would know he has a complicated relationship with his mother.

Eminem has never really been shy to bring it up in his music and this hasn’t always worked out in his favor.

The rap star was threatened with a $10 million lawsuit from his mother, Debbie Nelson, after one line that featured in his song back in 1999.

Even before this song’s release, Eminem made it clear that he and his mother had a turbulent relationship since he was a child, even going as far to bring it up in press interviews.

In his 1999 hit My Name Is – which featured on his The Slim Shady LP, Eminem alleged his mom ‘smokes more dope than I do’, a line that was met with backlash from his estranged mother.

Eminem is no stranger to taken shots at people in his music (Kurt Krieger/Corbis via Getty Images)

At the time, Eminem’s manager Paul Rosenberg defended the rapper and responded to the lawsuit saying: “Eminem’s life is reflected in his music.

“Everything he has said can be verified as true. Truth is an absolute defense to a claim of defamation. This lawsuit does not come as a surprise to Eminem.

“His mother has been threatening to sue him since the success of his single ‘My Name Is’. It is merely the result of a lifelong strained relationship between him and mother.

“Regardless, it is still painful to be sued by your mother and therefore the lawsuit will only be dealt with through legal channels.”

The lawsuit was successful, in a sense but nowhere close to the lucrative conclusion she was likely hoping for.

In 2001, two years after launching the lawsuit, she was awarded $25,000, although most of it went to legal fees, leaving her with just $1,600.

Despite the loss, Eminem wasn’t one to backdown when it came to taking shots at anyone.

The lawsuit likely didn’t pan out how Debbie would have wanted (Mark Weiss/Getty Images)

After the legal battle, a year later Eminem went on to release his most scathing song about his mother, Cleaning out my Closet.

He wrote: 2002 single: “Witnessing your momma popping prescription pills in the kitchen / B****** that someone’s always going through her purse and s’s missing / Going through public housing systems, victim of Munchausen syndrome.

“My whole life I was made to believe I was sick when I wasn’t / Till I grew up, now I blew up, it makes you sick to ya stomach.”

However, Eminem seems to had improved his relationship with his mother since the early 2000s and chooses not to perform this song live at any of his concerts.

In 2014, he went as far to apologize for the release of the track in his single ‘Headlights’ and admitted that he cringes whenever he hears it now.

The pair, at least in public, appeared to have repaired their relationship and the news of Debbie Nelson’s death will likely come as quite as a blow to the rap star.

She died on 2 December from complications related to lung cancer and a rep for Eminem has confirmed the news to both People and TMZ.

While some fans might not particularly like the pacing or lyrics in certain Eminem songs, for the rapper, it’s the emotional impact of one particular track that’s left him regretting it.

The track features on his 2002 album Without Me, and features details about Em’s fraught relationship with his mother, Debbie.

Eminem released his debut album in 1996 (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

Just three years prior to the song’s release, Debbie had sued her son as she accused him of slander and defamation. She sought to get $10 million out of her famous son, but eventually settled for $25,000.

Eminem then dropped his track ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet’, in which he uses some choice language to describe the woman who brought him into the world.

In the track, he calls his mom a ‘selfish b**ch’ and says he hoped she would ‘burn in Hell’.

The Slim Shady rapper also described her ‘popping prescription pills’ and vowed not to let her meet his daughter.

The song was apparently a reflection of how Eminem felt about his mom at the time, but as his feelings changed, so too did his thoughts about the track.

In 2013, Eminem followed-up with an apology track towards his mom in which he revealed how he had come to feel about ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet’.

In his song ‘Headlights’, he said: “My mom probably got it the worst / The brunt of it, but as stubborn as we are, did I take it too far? /’Cleaning Out My Closet’ and all them other songs / But regardless, I don’t hate you ‘cause ma.

“You’re still beautiful to me, ‘cause you’re my mom.”

Eminem later apologized for the track about his mom (Mark Weiss/Getty Images)

The heartfelt apology continues: “But I’m sorry mama for ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet,’ at the time I was angry. Rightfully maybe so, never meant that far to take it though, ‘cause now I know it’s not your fault and I’m not making jokes. / That song I no longer pay at shows and I cringe every time it’s on the radio.”

Em goes on in the track to say he ‘forgives’ his mom, adding that she ‘did [her] best’ to raise him and his brother, Nathan.

Rounding off the heartfelt apology, he says: “But I love you Debbie Mathers, oh what a tangled web we have.

“And I’m mad I didn’t get the chance to thank you for being my mom and my dad.”

Debbie di.ed in December 2024 at the age of 69.