Born in 1955 at a military base in Kansas, Debbie is the mother of Eminem.

She married the “Without Me” artist’s father Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. when she was 15, according to her 2008 memoir My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem. She became pregnant with Eminem 16 months later and relocated to Michigan, where her maternal grandmother lived.

Debbie and Eminem’s strained relationship has been documented in several of his songs, including his 2002 smash hit “Cleanin’ Out My Closet.” In the track, he alleged that Debbie abused prescription pills when he was young—which she denied in her autobiography. 

“What mother wants to be known as a pill-popping alcoholic who lives on welfare?” she wrote. “None of it was true, but the fibs kept getting bigger, and ultimately Marshall and I became estranged.”

However, Eminem has since expressed regret in airing out his family drama. In his 2013 song “Headlights,” he rapped, “I went in headfirst, never thinking about who, what I said hurt / In what verse, my mom probably got it the worst.”

Nelson died at the age of 69 in 2024 following a battle with cancer.