Eminem’s biological father and namesake, Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr., has died at 67. TMZ reports his family and neighbors in Fort Wayne, Indiana said he suffered a heart attack at his home.
Anyone even remotely familiar with Slim Shady’s catalog knows the Detroit-bred rap god had plenty of disdain for his biological parents. While his mother took the brunt of most of it, Em blasted his father on numerous occasions as well.
In a verse from 2001’s “Cleanin’ Out My Closet,” Em made his feelings crystal clear.
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“My faggot father must’ve had his panties up in a bunch ‘cause he split,” he raps. “I wonder if he even kissed me goodbye/No, I don’t, on second thought, I just fuckin’ wished he would die/I look at Hailie, and I couldn’t picture leavin’ her side.”
Em’s mother Debbie explained a then 22-year-old Bruce married her when she was 15, and their son — who they named Marshall Bruce Mathers III — was born two years later. They broke up shortly after. Em and his mother settled in Detroit with her family, while Bruce relocated to California and had two more kids.
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Shady has previously admitted in interviews he wrote letters to his father as a kid, but they always came back with a “return to sender” stamp on it. His dad would sometimes call while other family members were babysitting, but Em never actually talked to him on the phone.
His father published a letter addressed to his son in a newspaper explaining his side of the story in 2001. He claimed Debbie kept him away from Em, but they reportedly never reconciled.
Em hasn’t responded publicly to Mather’s death.
