EMINEM - EMINEM'S MOTHER PROVIDES HOPE IN LAWSUIT

Rapper EMINEM's mother DEBBIE MATHERS-BRIGGS is expected to be the one to lift her son out of his current legal troubles - despite their years of estrangement.

The hip-hop star was scheduled to attend Michigan's MACOMB COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT on Friday (30MAY03) to defend himself against a $1 million (GBP660,000) defamation lawsuit filed by his elementary school nemesis, DeANGELO BAILEY.

In the lawsuit, filed in December 2001, Bailey maintains that Eminem defamed him in a song from his album THE SLIM SHADY LP called BRAIN DAMAGE, and thus thwarted his career as an aspiring rapper. In the song Eminem depicts Bailey as a junior high school bully.

But Eminem may be able to use a lawsuit filed against the local school board in 1982 by his mum Debbie to vindicate himself. Debbie's lawsuit alleged that Bailey "assaulted and battered" Eminem when the two were attending DORT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. The lawsuit also asserted that as a result of the beatings, Eminem suffered sleeplessness, vomiting, nightmares, and anti-social behaviour. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed on the grounds of governmental immunity.