Eminem worried Mariah Carey’s memoir will portray him as a bad lover

Mariah Carey will release a life-spanning memoir on September 29th, 2020. The book, titled The Meaning Of Mariah Carey, is touted as an unfiltered account of the “complexities and depths of [Carey’s] experience.” This has got Eminem a little worried, with the rapper reportedly concerned the book will paint an unflattering image of him.

So why would Eminem be worried about what Mariah has to say about him? It goes back to the turn of the 2010s when Em (real name Marshall Mathers) started a de facto feud with Carey. Mathers had claimed to have had a relationship with Carey as far back as 2002, but she’d always denied it.

This tension gave rise to the song ‘Bagpipes from Baghdad’ on Eminem’s 2009 LP Relapse, which slammed Carey and her new husband Nick Cannon. The lines “Nick Cannon better back the fuck up/I’m not playin’/I want her back, you punk,” offer a primer for the sort of terribly juvenile lyrics that dominate the song.

Never one to just sit back and take it, Carey responded with the song ‘Obsessed’, which depicted Eminem as a deluded obsessive. “Why you so obsessed with me?” she sang. “Boy, I wanna know/Lying that you’re sexing me.”

Now, US Weekly claims to have spoken to a source close to Eminem who says Carey has always been the rapper’s Achilles heel. The mag quotes the insider as saying “[Carey and Mathers] had a very toxic relationship,” which leads Eminem to believe the book will paint a negative image of him.

However, what’s most concerning to Eminem is the possibility Carey will divulge details about their sex life. “Marshall is stressed out that Mariah is going to say shit that he was bad in bed or a selfish lover,” the source said.

Eminem reignited his feud with Cannon late last year by including these lines in his guest verse on Fat Joe & Dre’s ‘Lord Above’: “I know me and Mariah didn’t end on a high note/But that other dude’s whipped, that pussy got him neutered.”

Check out ‘Obsessed’ by Mariah Carey:

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine