Eminem: How a broken childhood forged one of the world’s biggest stars

The day everything almost changed

At nine years old, young Marshall was the victim of a serious assault in his schoolyard. A classmate threw a hard object concealed inside a snowball at his face before falling on top of him. The result: a concussion, temporary loss of vision in one eye, and nightmares. His mother even filed a lawsuit against the school for failure to protect him, but it was unsuccessful.

At home, the atmosphere was hardly any better. Marshall would later accuse his mother of various forms of abuse and neglect. She denied everything. It was a complex, painful relationship that the rapper would take years to unravel—and that he would eventually express in his music with disarming honesty.

When pain becomes creation

At 14, Marshall discovered rap. Not as a pastime: as a lifeline. He dropped out of school—not for lack of intelligence, but because he had found his voice, his path. He began to write, to perform, to fight to make a place for himself in an industry that didn’t welcome him with open arms.

In 1999, his meeting with the legendary Dr. Dre changed everything. Their collaboration on *My Name Is* propelled Eminem into the global spotlight. *The Slim Shady LP* became a phenomenon. He transformed his wounds into verses, his traumas into choruses that millions of people sang along to.