Eminem's mother may drop lawsuit against him

Eminem's mother is considering dropping a multi-million pound lawsuit against the rapper.

Debbie Mathers-Briggs said she had "no idea" he would be hit for up to £7m in damages. She said she had merely wanted her lawyer to stop Eminem making derogatory remarks in his lyrics.

In his first UK hit, the rapper, whose real name is Marshall Mathers, says: "My mom smokes more dope than I do".

Mathers-Briggs said she now "regrets" taking legal action and "wishes that things could be different".

In the interview, to be screened on ITV tonight, she said she had met her lawyer to tone down the "cussing" in the releases by her son, who plays in Manchester tonight.

"The next thing I knew, my son was hit with a $10m (£6.6m) lawsuit. I walked up to my attorney and he said, 'Well this was a wake up call'. I was in shock. I had no idea my son was going to get hit for $10m.

"Marshall called me right before the attorney did and said 'Mom, I've just been served with a paper'. I sat there in shock - and thought 'this is not happening'.

"I just tried to sit down and think about what was going on here, and I'm thinking to myself 'My son does not have $10m. How is he going to pay this?'. I was as much in shock as Marshall was."

Mathers-Briggs denied the chart star's accusations she was a bad mother: "He knows it's not true. I did the best I could. I always made sure he had nice clothes. I was a single parent - it was just me and him.

Tearful Mathers-Briggs also voiced her fears that Eminem would go to jail over assault and firearm charges he faces in the US.

And she said that Eminem's wife Kim was at the root of the breakdown in their relationship.