Why did Eminem and Christina Aguilera have beef? Fans bring up duo's history amid backlash over Megan Thee Stallion lyric

Fans have brought up Eminem’s publicized feud with Christina Aguilera amid his Megan Thee Stallion name-drop in his latest single ‘Houdini’ released last Friday. Referring to Megan reportedly getting shot on her feat by Tory Lanez, Marshall Mathers rapped:

"If I was to ask for Megan Thee/ Stallion if she would collab with me/ Would I really have a shot at a feat?"

The rapper soon faced backlash from Megan’s fans. However, some social media users mentioned Marshall’s beef with Christina from the 2000s and joked that this was not the first time he name-dropped another artist in his songs. Marshall has previously mentioned Britney Spears, Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Will Smith, and many others.

Looking back at Eminem and Christina Aguilera’s history, the duo started out as having a crush on one another. However, after Christina called the rapper out for rapping about killing his supposed wife in the song “’97 Bonnie & Clyde” from his 1999 album The Slim Shady LP. In turn, Marshall dissed Christina and started dropping tracks where he name-dropped her, often in a derogatory manner.

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A detailed account of Eminem and Christina Aguilera's beef

A viral TikTok video posted last year broke down the timeline of Eminem and Christina Aguilera's rivalry. In 1999, when Marshall Mathers released The Slim Shady LP, Christina made no attempts to hide her crush on the rapper. During a red carpet interview before an awards ceremony, she said:

"I’m looking forward to meeting Eminem actually...I want to meet Eminem, I think he’s cute."

The clip then cuts to Eminem giving his acceptance speech after receiving an award at the MTV VMAs, and he said:

"I don't even know if I want this award, I might just take Christina home tonight."

The video shows another instance where Eminem called Christina "cute" and that he had heard a few things she said about him. In a separate interview, Christina was seen admitting:

"He’s actually been a crush of mine for a while now."

However, the video then showed awkward moments between the two, likely representing how things went down once their beef started. Things turned sour in the early 2000s when Christina Aguilera criticized the lyrics of one of Eminem’s songs during her MTV documentary. She said the music video of the rapper’s hit track “My Name Is” was one of her favorites, and showered praises on Marshall. She told her friends:

"He’s got a cute face, look at his face! He’s so cute."

Then she cleared up rumors about them dating. Christina clarified she had only met Marshall once until then and that he was a “cool guy”. The "Genie in a Bottle" singer added:

"I heard he’s married now. The girl that he talks about killing on his record, actually."

Christina Aguilera spoke about the track “‘97 Bonnie & Clyde” where Marshall rapped about killing his wife and asking his daughter to help him dispose of the body. The lyrics went:

"...don't worry/ Dada made a nice bed for Mommy at the bottom of the lake/ Here, you wanna help Dada tie a rope around this rock? / We'll tie it to her footsie then we'll roll her off the dock/ Ready now, here we go, on the count of free/ One, two, free, whee/ There goes Mama, spashin' in the water"

Referring to the lyrics, Christina expressed:

"It’s pretty graphic, taking this girl out, killing her…Like, the mother of his child, it’s kind of aggravating to listen to. Some of his album is kind of disturbing."

She also advised her viewers to stand up against violence in relationships:

"Abusive situations are not cool. I get a lot of fan mail from a lot of girls in really bad situations, and I’ve kind of been around situations like that growing up."

In response to Christina’s criticism, Eminem told a reporter:

"I was like, ‘That’s cool, she picked my video!’ But she heard a rumor that I was married...I was like 'No you didn’t just say that, you little b*tch.'"

Marshall continued:

"And I was like why did she just pick my video if she’s picking it apart?...I’d rather of had her say nothing about me. She heard a rumor, she didn’t know if I was married or not, she just heard a rumor and then put me on blast."

At the time, Marshall Mathers had indeed married his on-and-off girlfriend Kim Scott, who also was the subject of several of his highly controversial songs. Fans did call him out for denying being married.

Marshall said that he decided to voice some rumors he had heard about Christina. Three months after her documentary's release, the rapper threw shade at her in his 2000 track "The Real Slim Shady". In the song, Marshall accused Christina of giving him an STD. Later that same year, he took a jab at the "Can't Hold Us Down" singer in another song, "Off The Wall".

In 2002, Christina had to present an award to Eminem at the MTV VMAs, where the two shared an awkward moment. Some fans praised Christina for calling him out in her documentary. A few others expressed disappointment over the fact that the two could have been a power couple.

As Eminem kept on rapping about Christina Aguilera even nearly two decades after their feud, in 2018, she said during her appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen:

“That’s really in the past, and you know it was thirsty then, it’s thirsty now.”

She added:

“It’s not nice to go after anybody, especially a female in this business"

Christina suggested Eminem should find something else to talk about in his songs.