An Obese Eminem - The Next Celebrity Trainwreck?

Eminem - the real Slim Shady, the white rapper who achieved fame and respect in addition to a lot of money and his own record label, the man with a star-studded inner circle (including famous protégés 50 Cent and Akon), the obsessive workaholic who worked day in day out to make his songs better, stronger, more haunting and illustrative of his inner demons and passions, who loved one woman throughout his life and who made no secret of his love for Ecstasy and Vicodin pain-killers. This is just a brief portrait of the artist we all saw exploding into our lives some years ago, whose struggle and pain we all empathized with at some level and who proved he had a good eye for scouting new talent. How good was he? Well, ask rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson and he'll tell you.

The fact is, I find it extremely hard to believe that Eminem could possibly turn into a celebrity trainwreck. However, I used to feel the same about Britney some years ago, which goes to show that we can never know for sure what might go on in a famous singer's life. The fact is, most of the things I'm about to tell you and that paint a disturbing picture about Eminem's present life come from his mother - with whom he has had a violently extremist relationship that even ended up in court - and makes me have some doubts about the whole story being authentic. But as much as I'd like to trash these reports as big fat lies, if we put things into perspective, in the end it all adds up to a gloomy yet realistic picture.

The fact is, we've all noticed Eminem has pretty much vanished from the stage over the past year or so, despite rumors that he had a lot of upcoming projects, among which star in another movie called "Have Gun - Will Travel" (a remake of an old American western TV series), publish his autobiography and work on a new album - but it's pretty obvious none of that has happened. Instead, Eminem's mother claims he now strolls around his house all day long, surfs the Internet, plays computer games and watches TV, all this time comfort eating his way into obesity.

"He's let his blond hair grow out, so everything but the ends are dark, his face has broken out in pimples and he's put on so much weight that he's causing all sorts of other health problems for himself. Since childhood he's suffered bouts of pneumonia. He's always had acute throat infections, like tonsillitis and he's asthmatic. His diet can't help. I fear for him every waking moment" claims his mother, Debbie Nelson, who just published a book about her famous son called "My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem"."I worry about his health all the time. He's always had high blood pressure and his cholesterol levels must be sky high. He orders fillet mignon takeout from an expensive restaurant almost every evening. I dread to think what his bills are - he pays for everyone hanging around the house" she adds.

According to Debbie, Eminem also suffers from a bad case of writer's block, is doing drugs and weighs about 14.5 stone at a height of just 5ft 7inches. What can I say - I would like to believe that these are just rumors from a jealous mother who's trying to advertise her book and is paying back her son for trashing her name and making her look like a horrible mother in some of his songs. But I have a feeling there's a lot of truth in her words, and that Eminem really has left himself go. I really hope he gets it together though - and that he gets all the help he needs.