Eminem's half-brother Nate Mathers posts on 'mixed emotions' after mother Debbie Nelson's death

While Eminem has yet to comment on the death of his mother Debbie Nelson at age 69 this week due to complications from advanced lung cancer, the rapper's half-brother, Nathan “Nate” Mathers, issued a terse, five-word response to the loss.

“Hate and mixed feelings today,” Nate Mathers wrote in his Instagram stories on Tuesday (Dec. 3) in a sharp message, in keeping with the Mathers family's sometimes contentious mother-son dynamic. Nelson died in St. Joseph, MO on Monday and at the time of publication Marshall had yet to issue a public statement about the loss of the woman who was often the subject of scorn and derision in his songs prior to their most recent reunion.

Music producer Nate was Nelson's youngest son, born to her and partner Fred Samra when Eminem was 13. she married the MC's father, Marshall Mathers Jr., when she was 16 and gave birth to Eminem (born Marshall Mathers) two years later in 1972. Eminem became Nate's legal guardian when his half-brother turned 16.

Eminem has often been at odds with his mother in his music, dangerously railing against her on hits like 2002's “Cleanin' Out My Closet,” in which he rapped about his mother's prescription drug abuse and said, “It wasn't the reason you made this CD for me, mom?/ To try to justify the way you treated me, mom?/ But guess what, you're getting old now, and it's cold when you're alone/ And Nathan's growing up so fast, he'll know you're fake.'

He also targeted her in the 1999 landmark Slim Shady LP track “My Name Is,” raps, “99 percent of my life, I've been lied to/ I just found out my mom does more drugs than me/ I told her I'm gonna grow up to be a famous rapper/ Make a record about drugs and give him her name.'

Nelson sued Eminem for defamation in 1999, seeking $11 million in damages. the judge ruled in her favor, but she was awarded only $25,000 in a 2001 ruling. She later delved into their rocky relationship in her 2007 memoir My son Marshall, my son Eminem. Years later, on the 2013 Marshall Mathers LP 2 track “Headlights” he extended an olive branch when he apologized with the lyrics, “I went in head first, never thought who, what I said hurt/ In which verse, my mama probably figured it out the worst/ The weight of it, but as stubborn as we are, have I taken it too far?/ 'Cleaning' Out My Closet' and everything else songs/ But regardless, I don't hate you 'cause, mom/ You're still beautiful to me, 'cause you're my mom.

The thaw continued in 2022, when Nelson praised her son for his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, saying in a video: “Marshall, I mean, I couldn't let this day go by without you Congratulations on being inducted into the Hall of Fame. I love you very much. I knew you'd get there. It was a long drive. I am very, very proud of you. And I'm also very proud [granddaughter] Hailie Jade, my big girl. I want to say, Hailie, good job on your podcast and God bless you guys. I love you very much.”