As anyone who’s ever listened to Eminem’s music can attest to, the rapper and his mother haven’t always had the greatest relationship.
In fact, so strained was their relationship that Debbie Mathers once filed a $10 million defamation lawsuit against son Marshall after claiming he’d slandered her on the Slim Shady LP and in various interviews.
The beef goes all the way back to 1999, when Debbie took offense at her son’s claim on his debut single ‘My Name Is’ that “my mom smokes more d*pe than I do”.
"I told her I'd grow up to be a famous rapper, make a record about doin' drugs and name it after her," the lyrics continue.
But it didn’t end there. Eminem repeatedly trash-talked his mom in interviews during this stage of his career, claiming that she never worked and was always trying to scam money from welfare, per MTV.
The two would always get into fights when they were younger, and according to Eminem, his mother would frequently kick him out of the house.
Clearly these remarks got under Debbie’s skin, and in 1999, she filed a lawsuit against her son, demanding a cool $10 million in compensation after claiming he was lying about both his upbringing and her alleged substance abuse, The Sun reports.
In response to the suit, Em’s lawyer Paul Rosenberg said in a statement, per Rolling Stone: "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."
Surprisingly enough, Debbie Mathers actually won the lawsuit- but it didn’t all go according to plan.
Instead of the $10 million she’d initially filed for, the judge awarded her just $25,000 in compensation.
And to make matters worse, her lawyer ended up pocketing $23,354 of the total settlement, leaving her with just over $1,600 once the dust had settled.
In an interview with ABC News after the trial had concluded, her lawyer Fred Gibson rubbed even more salt in the wound by claiming that Debbie was such a nightmare client that he should have been entitled to even more of the settlement.
He said: "This is not the last laugh because she was the most high-maintenance client I've had in my legal career. "That amount was a far cry to the time I dedicated to her personally and to the legal action."
As for Eminem himself, he responded to the defeat by penning ‘Cleanin Out My Closet’, a blistering and deeply personal attack on his mother which served as the second single from his 2002 album ‘The Eminem Show’.
Time heals all wounds though, and in 2015 Em penned an apology song to his mother, ‘Headlights’, in which he expresses his regrets over the way he treated her during his younger days.
Although he remains estranged to his mother to this day, he stated that he now cringes whenever he hears ‘Cleanin' Out My Closet’ on the radio and no longer performs the song at live shows.