According to TMZ, Mr Marshall died earlier this week after suffering a heart attack at his home near Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Before his death, the legendary American didn’t have a good relationship with his father, who moved to California after splitting with Eminem’s mother, Debbie, when he was a child. Em rapped about his dad on songs like My Name Is and Cleanin’ Out My Closet, which reflected their estranged relationship.
“I was a baby, maybe I was just a couple of months / My f****t father must have had his panties up in a bunch,” he rapped. “‘Cause he split, I wonder if he even kissed me goodbye / No, I don’t / On second thought I just fu**ing wished he would die.”
According to Eminem’s mother, she married Bruce when he was 22 and she was 15 and gave birth to the rapper two years later. They split up shortly after, and Eminem and his mom moved to Detroit with her family while Bruce moved to California where he had two other kids.
In 2001, Bruce published a letter to his son in a newspaper, claiming that Eminem’s mom kept him away.
“I desperately want to meet my son and tell him that I love him,” he told the Mirror. “I’m not interested in his money. I just want to talk to him. I want him to know that I’m here for him if he lets me back into his life.”
Eminem once told the Mirror: “My father? I never knew him. I’ve never even seen a picture of him,” adding, “I heard my dad is trying to get in contact with me, but not now. I never got one letter.”
