Rapper Marshall “Eminem” Mathers has announced that his daughter, Hailie Jade, is expecting her first baby in an emotional music video for his new song, “Temporary.”
Calling it “the hardest thing I ever wrote,” the song is dedicated to Hailie, and is intended as a message for her to listen to after he dies. In the music video, home movies and photos of Hailie throughout her childhood are interspersed with photos and videos of her as an adult, including of her wedding to Evan McClintock, whom she met in college.
The video features several emotional moments, such as when Mathers walks up the stairs and sees Hailie for the first time in her wedding dress, and then bursts into tears. Toward the end, Hailie is shown surprising Mathers with a gift: a jersey that says “Grandpa” and a sonogram photo of his first grandchild:
At the end of the video, the camera zooms in on a card Hailie wrote for her dad. It reads, “…because no matter how many years go by, inside my heart will always be the little girl who loves and needs her dad,” and then pans to a note she wrote inside.
“Dad, I got this card a few years ago and held onto it and now feels like the perfect time to give you it. Thank you for everything you do and always being there for all of us girls. You truly are the best dad in the world. Love you forever + 100 million dollars forever ever and always,” she wrote, signing the end of the card “Bean.”
As well as the announcement in the music video, Hailie shared the news on her own Instagram page, showing her and McClintock embracing and showing sonogram pictures of their baby.
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There is a clear pro-life theme present, even if unintentional. Though Hailie’s baby is not yet born, his or her humanity is clearly being acknowledged in presenting Mather as a grandfather, and his emotional reaction shows it as well.
Mather is also someone who perhaps understands the value of life firsthand, as he has previously written at least one song showing how abortion affects men. In his song “River,” he expresses regret and guilt, and begs his aborted child for forgiveness.
“I can’t keep my lies straight, but I made you terminate my baby; This love triangle left us in a wreck, tangled,” he raps. “What else can I say? It was fun for a while, bet I really woulda loved your smile, didn’t really wanna abort, but f*** it — what’s one more lie, to tell our unborn child?”
The chorus, which features singer Ed Sheeran, says:
I’ve been a liar, been a thief
Been a lover, been a cheat
All my sins need holy water, feel it washing over me
Well, little one, I don’t want to admit to something
If all it’s gonna cause is pain
The truth and my lies now are falling like the rain
So let the river run
Post-abortive fathers have frequently spoken out about how abortion affected them – even when they are the ones who pressured the mother to have an abortion.
“I wish I knew how much better my life could have been with a kid in it,” one post-abortive father said. “I’ve always felt I would have had a daughter, which I’d have loved now, and becoming a father would have been life-changing. But it’s only as time has passed that I appreciate the enormity of what happened and what I lost,” another said.
Yet abortion is said to be a women’s issue, in which men aren’t supposed to be involved, and they aren’t supposed to speak out against it. And when men try to talk openly about how abortion has negatively affected them, they are often silenced.
When a child is aborted, it not only robs that father of the chance to be a dad to that child, but may also be robbing him of the joy of a future grandchild.
Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling after the loss of a child by abortion, click here for resources.
