[The Mail on Sunday - Feb 4, 2001]
[Small headline] [picture caption] [Large head] [kicker] WHEN my son Marshall - that's his name, not Eminem - first got into rap as a teenager he would wake me at Sam to ask me what words rhymed with what. I bought him a dictionary and it all went downhill from there. Because of what Marshall has written, to his fans I am the most hated person on this planet. I've been spat on by kids in the supermarket. Yet I do know him, probably better than anyone, and I want to try and explain to his British fans - and all the parents who I know are horrified by the lyrics to his songs - what makes my son tick. As he starts his concert tour of Britain on Thursday I want people to understand that the hate-filled rapper on stage is Eminem and not my boy Marshall. Basically, no one should take anything he says seriously - he doesn't mean it. He doesn't hate women or homosexuals and he's not violent. He is making money out of negative issues because he could not make it as a rap star any other way. When he first started to write filthy lyrics I asked him why. His answer was the more foul he was the more people loved him. He didn't make money out of nice things. If he wrote a song about how much he loved his mother and little brother, he'd be laughed at. THE Marshall I know rarely curses - he's a little itty-bitty thing who wouldn't stand a chance in a fight. That's not to say I am condoning his behaviour - if I had my way I would have his albums censored. Children under a certain age should not listen to such filthy lyrics. But despite what he has done, he is still my son. Marshall remains very angry with me and I still don't know why. I love him so much that if he asked me to jump in front of a train for him, I would. He has hurt me terribly and, in a way, I blame myself: I was an over-protective mother who gave him everything he wanted and more. I once asked him why he was so angry with me. He said it was because he didn't have a dad. I tried to explain to him that I left his father because he was abusive and if we hadn't gone, he would have hated me even more. I asked him why he blamed me and he just stormed out. As usual, he would not give me a straight answer. Until just two years ago, when he became famous, he lived with me. I always say that if he hated me so much why did he live with me until two months short of his 26th birthday? And that's another thing - he even lies about his age. He's actually 28 but he keeps knocking years off. We fell out initially because I wanted to leave Detroit and go back to Missouri. He didn't want me to go and turned all his anger on me. It was the beginning of the end and I blame his wife Kim. She bullies Marshall yet he has gone back to her time and again because of their daughter Hailie. He loves Hailie so much and wants to be a proper father to her unlike his own dad. Despite what Marshall says, we lived in nice neighbourhoods not slums. But he was picked on because he was always a tiny thing. When he was eight, after a series of beatings, he fell into a coma. The doctors did not think he would live but I prayed and prayed until he pulled through. He had to re-learn how to do simple things like speak and eat and one of the side effects from the head injury, I believe, were his behavioural problems. Obviously I became over protective. I was single, he was my only son. Years later, he abused me because he changed schools so many times, blaming me. Yet the truth is whenever he had a problem at school, he came home and demanded to move. And I gave in to him. Marshall was 13 when I became pregnant with his half brother Nathan. He was delighted. I have always loved kids and fostered four; the house was always full of waifs and strays. One of those troubled souls was Kim Scott, who moved in with us when she was 12. Marshall was about 15 and she lied about her age saying she was the same. They got together and that was it. Chaos reigned. Until then Marshall was a normal, happy boy. She changed him, she wound him up, and they had the most terrible rows. I had to break up the cursing between them. The girl thrives on confrontation. But Marshall was never violent towards her. He may rap about raping and murdering her but he has never laid a finger on her. When they had a row he took it out on his car, he would come screaming home and punch the car. I've never seen a vehicle with so many dents in it. Another thing that deeply traumatised him as a youth was the death of his uncle Ronnie, my brother. The two were just six weeks apart and were more like brothers, they did everything together. But when they were about 16, Marshall got into rap and Ronnie liked Bon Jovi. They fell out and didn't speak for two years. When Ronnie killed himself, Marshall was devastated. MARSHALL has accused me of being addicted to prescription pills. Well, back in 1990 I was run over by a drunk driver. I had to eat baby food as I couldn't swallow and during that time I was on medication. It wasn't pill popping and, whatever he says, I brought Marshall up in an alcohol, drug and smoke-free home. He sings about smoking crack and heroin. I honestly don't know what he does now, but he certainly drinks and he has introduced Nathan, who is just 15, to Bacardi. Nathan told me and I am very angry with Marshall for doing that. Nathan looks up to Marshall. It's hard now he is known as Eminem's brother. At one point Nathan wanted to live full-time with Marshall, who threatened to apply for custody. Now the only time Marshall phones it is to speak to Nathan; he doesn't have time for me. Right up until he was 26 I took care of his finances - he didn't have a bank account - and his car insurance. There was a mess up over a car repayment and he went berserk and blamed me. We had a terse conversation recently when he said he'd have me put in jail for fraud. But one day he has got to wake up and smell the coffee. I am gullible and loving. As a child Marshall was never spanked and I never raised my voice to him. The real problem is not that he had a hard time but that he resents I sheltered him so much from the real world. When he got a job as a chef, who taught him to cook? Me. When he fell out with his friends, who resolved it? Me. I am guilty of loving my son too much. There is nothing I can do now to stop him belittling me. But one day he will be my Marshall again. When he grows up.
As the white rapper bring his shocking show to Britain, the surprising truth from the woman who knows him best - his "badass mom".
A troubled man: Debbie says her son's vitriol is an act.
I think Eminem is filthy - and I'm his mum
FOUL-mouthed rap sensation Eminem - real name Marshall Mathers - has horrified parents with his graphic lyrics, many aimed at his own mother Debbie MathersBriggs. But this is what she thinks of him...
