Eminem's Mum

1O.3Opm BBC Choice

24TH May 2002

In what kind of family does the mother sue the son for defamation of character? Why, in the Mathers family, of course, where the son in question is foul-mouthed and "controversial rapper" (is there any other kind?) Eminem.

Debbie Mathers, mother of Eminem (who is otherwise known as Marshall Mathers III), filed her $10 million lawsuit in 1999 in the face of constant humiliation by her son's song lyrics, in which he has accused her of child abuse, neglect and taking drugs.

Obviously the Mathers family is unlike any other, as the BBC Choice documentary team find out when they head off to Missouri to interview Debbie's very vocal mother, Betty.

Locals, rather enigmatically, describe the town where the Mathers family lived as "the kind of place you go to on vacation and come out of on probation". For the Mathers family it was home to a dozen marriages, eight births and two fatal shootings.

Young master Eminem refused to take part in the programme, unsurprisingly, but the team also talk to Debbie's brother, Todd, and Eminem's youngest brother, Nathan, who rather ungallantly describes his mum as 'nuts".

Alison Graham