Eminem Gives Deposition Against Mom

September 15, 2000 -- Rap star Eminem spent nearly three hours meeting with lawyers in Michigan's Macomb Circuit Court on Wednesday, taping a video deposition (testimony given under oath for later use in a trial) in the $10 million defamation suit filed against him by his mother, Debbie Mathers-Briggs.

Fred Gibson, the attorney representing Mathers-Briggs, told The Detroit News that although the rapper, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, conducted himself in a "gentlemanly" fashion, "he made it clear that he'd rather pay his attorneys $100,000 and make sure she doesn't get a dime."

Debbie Mathers-Briggs filed the $10 million lawsuit against her son in September 1999, claiming that on his debut album, The Slim Shady LP, Eminem portrayed his mother as an unstable drug user — who regularly filed frivolous lawsuits.

In his deposition, Eminem clarified comments that he'd made to music magazines in the past concerning his mother's alleged drug use. Although in one rag the rapper claimed his mom used "more drugs than I did" in his youth, Wednesday he testified that "the drugs she abused were prescription drugs."

Gibson confirmed to the paper that Eminem's mother did take prescription medications — including Valium and Vicatin — during the rapper's childhood, but didn't abuse them. Mathers-Briggs wasn't present for the deposition.

According to court documents disclosed in August, the rap star declined an out-of-court offer to settle a $10 million defamation suit filed by his mother for a mere $2 million.

Mathers-Briggs filed a second defamation suit, for a paltry $1 million, that same month, after her son characterized his mother in the press as "strung-out on prescription drugs, addicted to bingo, and always looking to earn an easy dollar the good old American way" — via the courts.

No date yet has been set for the trial.