Eminem's estranged father dies at 67 after heart attack

Eminem's estranged father, Marshall Bruce Mathers Jr., has died at 67 due to a heart attack.

The rapper had no relationship with his father, who married his mother when she was 15 and left the family not long after Eminem (whose legal name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III) was born. As a teenager, Eminem wrote letters to the dad he never met, all of which came back "return to sender," according to a 1999 Rolling Stone cover story.

The elder Marshall Mathers moved from Missouri to California upon leaving his wife and baby in the 1970s, but he reportedly died at his home near Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The area is about a three-hour drive from the Michigan region where Eminem currently resides.

Eminem's mother, Debbie, said in 2008 that her ex was "abusive" and "hard-drinking."

Eminem, 46, frequently wrote about his dad in his early rap lyrics. On his 2002 album "The Eminem Show," he wrote of his father, "I wonder if he even kissed me goodbye / No I don't / On second thought I just f--king wished he would die."

In 2001, as he ascended to superstardom, his dad 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."

It's currently unknown whether Eminem ever came face-to-face with his father in more recent years.

Eminem himself is a father of three. He and his high school sweetheart, Kim, with whom he had an on-and-off relationship, share a daughter born in 1995. He also has custody of Kim's daughter from another relationship, as well as custody of Kim's twin sister's daughter.