I couldn’t believe my eyes as I discovered the news in the UK mirror yesterday. The Mirror certainly wanted to make a big sensation by showing a title like « Eminem’s « father » shoot himself in the head.
In fact, the article from the British tabloid wasn’t about Marshall Mathers II, but about Todd Nelson, Debbie Mathers’ brother and thus, Eminem’s uncle.
In fact, the Mirror’s article intented to point out Todd Nelson’s role as a replacement father for Marshall, which is totally wrong. Although Marshall has spent several years with uncle Todd at his house in Timken during his teenage years, Marshall wasn’t that close to his maternal uncle.
It is a matter of fact Todd Nelson has obviously tried to get some money out of his nephew’s fame and that he sticked up for his sister Debbie against Marshall, most of the time.
Some people may not understand why Marshall might be devasted by uncle Todd’s death, then. The reasons are quite obvious, though:
– the loss of a family member is always difficult to cope with, no matter if you were close to him or not, and I am talking by experience.
-Eminem had the great pain to lose his uncle Ronnie in 1991. Todd’s suicide will bring up a lot of memories to the surface.
During the two last days, I still had some hope this news could be a hoax. But the recent Detroit Free Press article about Todd Nelson’s tragical death ended my suspicions. This drama actually happened on October the 19th,2004:
http://www.freep.com/entertainment/music/eminem22e_20041022.htm
Eminem will not attend to his uncle’s burial, but he has paid the costs of the funeral.
Marshall will have to cope with the loss of his mom’s brother and my thoughts are with him and his family members.
No matter what could have opposed Marshall and his uncle Todd, another witness of Marshall’s childhood and teenage years has gone.
R.I.P Todd Nelson.