Eminem's Dad

[Asche]

Didn't Em's dad come out of the woodwork at some point a few years ago and try to get in touch with him? How did that end up going? I don't think they talk now so I'm thinking Em told him it's too late now or something... I never hear him being talked about anymore, so I was just wondering.

[Mr Change]

I've heard Eminem say that his dad has tried to get into contact with him before, but he refuses--Which I think is pretty cool, tbh

[Asche]

Really? That's really interesting. My dad pulled the same thing on me and when he tried to come around I decided I didn't want a relationship with him... so it's kinda cool, I guess, to hear that Marshall made the same choice.

[Mr Change]

Yeah, the video was probably pretty old so he may or may not have kept up with his choice

He might've said something like "He wasn't there for me all my life, so why let him be here now" or something like that

[EG.]

They talked about it in the 60 minutes interview with Anderson Cooper. Em said his father wanted to contact him back in 2000 or something but Em didn't want it at that point. When Anderson asked if he ever wanted contact with his dad Em said he didn't really know.

[mdemaz]

[Devil'sAdvocate]

thats his dad?

the guy had genius semen tbh. *Shrug*

[mdemaz]

He's your typical redneck really..Wears checkered shirts, has a mullet etc..

[Guess_Who]

why is white trash party coming to my head now?

[Amaranthine]

Em said in 09 that he doesn't want to get to know his dad because he doesn't feel like anything's missing from his life. Said something along the lines of "I needed him when I was a kid, but I don't need him anymore." He's also said that he doesn't want to meet his half-siblings, either, because they knew about him and didn't try contact him, and he didn't know they existed until he got famous and they tried to contact him.

His dad did try to contact him though, he wrote an open letter to Em in the Daily Mirror in 2001:

TONIGHT (8/26/2001) chainsaw rap idol Eminem, 28, will play the biggest
British gig of his life before 45,000 fans at the Reading rock
festival. Last night he rocked Glasgow with his Gig on the Green. The star,
real name Marshall Mathers III, famously despises the father he believes
walked out on him. One of his lyrics seethes: "When you see my dad, tell
him that I slit his throat in this dream I had." Now in a heart-rending
open letter, written during a conversation with our American Editor
STUART WHITE, Eminem's dad, Marshall Mathers II, reveals the truth that
pop's most outrageous star has never heard. Here is that letter in
full...

Dear Eminem,

HELLO, son. You won't remember me, though I held you in my arms when
you were a baby. You think I dumped you and your mother and never came
looking for you. You're convinced I'm a drunk who never answered any of
your letters. Well, I want you to read this and realise you've been fed
lies all your life. Now you'll hear the truth for the first time. But I
want to make it plain that I'm not after any handout. I work hard, I
have money. I don't need or want your money. But the one ambition left in
my life is to give you a hug and tell you I've always loved you. Let me
start at the beginning and tell you the whole story. I was just 21 when
I married Debbie, your mum. She was 15 and had to get special
permission. For a year we lived with my parents in the basement of a house in
North Dakota. We married too young, it was ridiculous, but I was
delighted when your mum became pregnant. She says I was drinking and doing
drugs, but it isn't true. She's even claimed I wasn't at the hospital when
you were born, that I was gallivanting with her best friend. It's a lie
and I can prove it.

OK, I wasn't there at your actual delivery, hospitals weren't that keen
to let in dads in those days. But I was there up to the delivery, and
ten minutes afterwards. I still have the baby book in which Debbie
recorded who was present in the hospital, and I'm listed; why would she
write that if I wasn't there? When you were a baby I loved it. You were so
cute, and I enjoyed feeding you and doing your diapers. Your mum and I
didn't get on, but she was great with you; you were always clean and
well-fed and well-dressed and I couldn't fault her for that. But sadly
the atmosphere between us deteriorated. We'd moved to our own apartment,
and one day when you were about 16 or 17 months I came home from work
and everything was missing. It was deathly quiet, no sound from the
kitchen or from your room. Furniture, pictures, everything was gone. There
wasn't even a note. I got in my car and started to drive around
anywhere you and your mum might be. I now believe you'd gone south to Missouri
where Debbie had family. It was like a bolt from the blue. To read now
that it was me who walked out makes me choke with tears of rage. I
spent six weeks looking everywhere for you both, I was distraught.
Eventually I got divorce papers, but it was all done through lawyers and they
wouldn't tell me where you both were. There was never a day in court, it
was all done on paper. After about a year I gave it up, I just had no
more energy for it. In the movies you'd track someone down, but in real
life you can't do that. You have a job, you have to work, you don't
have unlimited cash to go hunting around the nation. I've since read
interviews where you say you wrote letters to me and they came back, 'Return
To Sender'. I can say on the word of God that I didn't receive even one
letter from you. Anyway, in 1975 I moved to San Diego, fell in love
again and had a son and daughter. Michael's 23 and Sarah's 21. They're the
half-brother and sister you never met.

In fact it was Michael came to me and said there was this new rapper on
the scene and his real name was the same as mine.I didn't think
anything of it, then someone showed me Rolling Stone magazine and there was a
picture of Debbie holding you when you were little (pictured left). It
freaked me out. On my behalf, Sarah wrote to you via your record
company saying that I was alive and well and giving an address in the hope
you'd get in touch. We didn't even get an acknowledgement as a reply.
When I moved to California your mum would have had no idea where I was, so
how could you have been given a proper address? I suspect she just said
anything to you, so you'd write the letter and the post office returned
it. But that made her version of me being uncaring sound like the
truth. If I was such a bad father, how come Michael and Sarah are still in
touch with me and get on well despite the fact that I've parted from
their mother? For the past two years I've had a new girlfriend. Her name's
Teresa Harbin and she's 40. You'd like her. Me? Well, I'm 50 now and
I'm a construction worker. There are so many lies to put to rest. There's
the picture of me apparently going into an Alcoholics Anonymous
meeting. But I don't drink any more. That photo is of me going into a DONUT
shop, and I can prove it because the sign is in the background. I even
read that Debbie has said I'm part Blackfoot Indian, and she's part
Cherokee. It sounds good. But actually your mum's family come from
Scandinavia, and my Dad's family originate from South Wales. I'm told they have
good singing voices in Wales, all those choirs, so maybe some of that
rubbed off on you, son. It'd be nice to think so. Anyway, that's about
it for now. I just want you to know there hasn't been a day when I
haven't thought about you. I'm saying all this in the News of the World
because they're the only paper who've bothered to find the truth. I'd get
on a plane right now, this second, and go anywhere in the world if you'd
meet with me. Please get in touch.

Love Dad

[EG.]

Em said in 09 that he doesn't want to get to know his dad because he doesn't feel like anything's missing from his life. Said something along the lines of "I needed him when I was a kid, but I don't need him anymore." He's also said that he doesn't want to meet his half-siblings, either, because they knew about him and didn't try contact him, and he didn't know they existed until he got famous and they tried to contact him.

His dad did try to contact him though, he wrote an open letter to Em in the Daily Mirror in 2001:

TONIGHT (8/26/2001) chainsaw rap idol Eminem, 28, will play the biggest
British gig of his life before 45,000 fans at the Reading rock
festival. Last night he rocked Glasgow with his Gig on the Green. The star,
real name Marshall Mathers III, famously despises the father he believes
walked out on him. One of his lyrics seethes: "When you see my dad, tell
him that I slit his throat in this dream I had." Now in a heart-rending
open letter, written during a conversation with our American Editor
STUART WHITE, Eminem's dad, Marshall Mathers II, reveals the truth that
pop's most outrageous star has never heard. Here is that letter in
full...

Dear Eminem,

HELLO, son. You won't remember me, though I held you in my arms when
you were a baby. You think I dumped you and your mother and never came
looking for you. You're convinced I'm a drunk who never answered any of
your letters. Well, I want you to read this and realise you've been fed
lies all your life. Now you'll hear the truth for the first time. But I
want to make it plain that I'm not after any handout. I work hard, I
have money. I don't need or want your money. But the one ambition left in
my life is to give you a hug and tell you I've always loved you. Let me
start at the beginning and tell you the whole story. I was just 21 when
I married Debbie, your mum. She was 15 and had to get special
permission. For a year we lived with my parents in the basement of a house in
North Dakota. We married too young, it was ridiculous, but I was
delighted when your mum became pregnant. She says I was drinking and doing
drugs, but it isn't true. She's even claimed I wasn't at the hospital when
you were born, that I was gallivanting with her best friend. It's a lie
and I can prove it.

OK, I wasn't there at your actual delivery, hospitals weren't that keen
to let in dads in those days. But I was there up to the delivery, and
ten minutes afterwards. I still have the baby book in which Debbie
recorded who was present in the hospital, and I'm listed; why would she
write that if I wasn't there? When you were a baby I loved it. You were so
cute, and I enjoyed feeding you and doing your diapers. Your mum and I
didn't get on, but she was great with you; you were always clean and
well-fed and well-dressed and I couldn't fault her for that. But sadly
the atmosphere between us deteriorated. We'd moved to our own apartment,
and one day when you were about 16 or 17 months I came home from work
and everything was missing. It was deathly quiet, no sound from the
kitchen or from your room. Furniture, pictures, everything was gone. There
wasn't even a note. I got in my car and started to drive around
anywhere you and your mum might be. I now believe you'd gone south to Missouri
where Debbie had family. It was like a bolt from the blue. To read now
that it was me who walked out makes me choke with tears of rage. I
spent six weeks looking everywhere for you both, I was distraught.
Eventually I got divorce papers, but it was all done through lawyers and they
wouldn't tell me where you both were. There was never a day in court, it
was all done on paper. After about a year I gave it up, I just had no
more energy for it. In the movies you'd track someone down, but in real
life you can't do that. You have a job, you have to work, you don't
have unlimited cash to go hunting around the nation. I've since read
interviews where you say you wrote letters to me and they came back, 'Return
To Sender'. I can say on the word of God that I didn't receive even one
letter from you. Anyway, in 1975 I moved to San Diego, fell in love
again and had a son and daughter. Michael's 23 and Sarah's 21. They're the
half-brother and sister you never met.

In fact it was Michael came to me and said there was this new rapper on
the scene and his real name was the same as mine.I didn't think
anything of it, then someone showed me Rolling Stone magazine and there was a
picture of Debbie holding you when you were little (pictured left). It
freaked me out. On my behalf, Sarah wrote to you via your record
company saying that I was alive and well and giving an address in the hope
you'd get in touch. We didn't even get an acknowledgement as a reply.
When I moved to California your mum would have had no idea where I was, so
how could you have been given a proper address? I suspect she just said
anything to you, so you'd write the letter and the post office returned
it. But that made her version of me being uncaring sound like the
truth. If I was such a bad father, how come Michael and Sarah are still in
touch with me and get on well despite the fact that I've parted from
their mother? For the past two years I've had a new girlfriend. Her name's
Teresa Harbin and she's 40. You'd like her. Me? Well, I'm 50 now and
I'm a construction worker. There are so many lies to put to rest. There's
the picture of me apparently going into an Alcoholics Anonymous
meeting. But I don't drink any more. That photo is of me going into a DONUT
shop, and I can prove it because the sign is in the background. I even
read that Debbie has said I'm part Blackfoot Indian, and she's part
Cherokee. It sounds good. But actually your mum's family come from
Scandinavia, and my Dad's family originate from South Wales. I'm told they have
good singing voices in Wales, all those choirs, so maybe some of that
rubbed off on you, son. It'd be nice to think so. Anyway, that's about
it for now. I just want you to know there hasn't been a day when I
haven't thought about you. I'm saying all this in the News of the World
because they're the only paper who've bothered to find the truth. I'd get
on a plane right now, this second, and go anywhere in the world if you'd
meet with me. Please get in touch.

Love Dad

For some reason I found this funny.

But Amaranthine

[Guess_Who]

God, I'm too lazy to read that letter. I will do as Eminem , I won't read

[stella222]

His dad said he went to visit Em once but he wasn't home because he had a show somewhere. lol

[Amaranthine]

His dad said he went to visit Em once but he wasn't home because he had a show somewhere. lol

I wish he had been home. I would've paid so much money to be able to watch that convo.

[Asche]

Wow, that letter was very interesting to read... I wonder how much of it is true. I'm usually wary of trusting anything his parents say.