Eminem‘s younger brother swung by Hailie Jade‘s podcast earlier this month to reflect on growing up with the superstar rapper as a sibling.
To introduce Nathan Mathers as her guest, Eminem’s daughter opened the “super special and exciting” Feb. 3 episode of Just a Little Shady with some context about her family. “For those of you who may not know, Nate is my uncle – my dad’s younger brother – but also we kind of grew up together because Nate lived with us for a while when I was young,” she explained. “So he’s kind of like a ‘bruncle.’ I would say brother-uncle. … You definitely act younger than your age, I always think that. … We are closer in age than you are to [my] dad, but still, I never realize how much older you are than me because I feel like you are like a brother.”
In fact, Mathers happens to be 14 years younger than his famous older brother, compared to being 12 years older than Jade. And when it comes to his memories of the artist otherwise known as Marshall Mathers, Nate had nothing but good things to say — even admitting he bleached his hair to copy Em’s signature look.
“He was the best role model I could have had to help me be the dad that I am today,” the younger Mathers brother said, though he added that it took him a while to understand the size of Eminem’s fame. “I started understanding a little more when reality would hit when I would start seeing him on TV and going to shows and all the signatures and crazy people. I’m like, ‘All right, well, this is real.’”
Earlier this month, Jade announced her engagement to longtime boyfriend Evan McClintock just months after Eminem was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Watch Hailie’s full interview with her uncle below.