He’s said his daughter Hailie was his biggest inspiration when he was broke and starting out as a rapper in run-down Detroit. But while Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, clearly had his child at the foremost of his mind, the same can’t be said about his own father, who abandoned him shortly after he was born.
The 50-year-old musician was only directly contacted by his father Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr. in 2001, during the height of his career. However, Eminem refused to listen to his estranged parent.
Mathers Jr., who died aged 67 in June 2019, isn’t the only relative the rapper has rejected – with his younger paternal half-sister Sarah Mathers, having never met Eminem, despite trying to do so.
Sarah, who lives in California, is said to have tried to meet with her famous brother at one of his concerts, before being turned away. She only discovered his identity in 2005, according to Hello!.
Sarah, now thought to be 41 years old, couldn’t believe it when she found out that she was related to Eminem as a young adult.
She was reportedly at a family barbecue when her father noticed Eminem on the TV and couldn’t help but notice the resemblance between the musician and his paternal half-brother Michael.
Sarah recalled, via Contactmusic.com: ‘I’d known all my life that I had another brother, but Eminem? They’d got to be kidding. I giggled at the thought of it, then went back to join the rest of my family.
‘But when my dad saw the resemblance between the two men (Eminem and half-brother Michael), he didn’t brush it off.
‘He phoned his great-aunt Edna, who’d helped look after Dad’s oldest son before he split from his ex-wife, and she told him it was Marshall Mathers. Eminem was my brother.’
But when Sarah and her father tried to reach out to Eminem, by attempting to meet him backstage at one of his concerts, the artist refused to meet them, according to the rapper’s mother, Debbie, reported AmoMama.
TMZ reported that Sarah’s father Mathers Jr. suffered a heart attack while at home near Fort Wayne, Indiana. He died aged 67 in June 2019.
Eminem has regularly rapped about being abandoned by his biological father and having never met him in person.
