We all know how emotionally draining it can be to argue with a loved one and unfortunately, sometimes families decide to part ways.
It's never an easy process, especially when that person is your own flesh and blood. However, Curtis James Jackson, aka 50 Cent publicly disowned his son, Marquise Jackson, in front of at least 24.5 million people after years of back and forth altercations between the two.
Things Weren't Always So Bad
Looking back into their relationship, things weren't always this way. They used to share a loving father-and-son relationship that many people would be envious of.
In Marquise's younger days, they were fairly close, as fifty tells VH1:" When my son came into my life, my priorities changed because I wanted to have the relationship with him that I didn't have with my father." The dad even has a tattoo of his son's name on his right bicep that he got back in 1997 following his birth. He mentioned as well at one point how fatherhood was the key factor in taking his career to the next step.
Marquise explains how he considered his father to be his superhero as he always saw his dad on television, and even witnessed his dad record his debut album Get Rich, Or Die Tryin'.
Fifty's Fractured Relationship With His Son's Mother
Many years later, in 2008, Fifty and his son's mother Shaniqua Tompkins got into several arguments, with the major one being Fifty's alleged promises to his then-girlfriend to give her his $4 million dollar Long Island mansion. Whether or not that was true didn't matter, as the rapper had tried to evict his ex-girlfriend from the mansion during their breakup, which led to a lengthy court battle.
On May 30th, the mansion burnt down in a fire that was considered suspicious by law enforcement. Tompkins accused 50 Cent of being responsible for the fire, but the mother's accusations were quickly disregarded seeing how Fifty was shooting a movie in Arizona at the time of the incident. That wasn't enough though to distinguish Tompkin's rage as she insisted that she heard someone in her home before the fire occurred and that the rapper was to blame. She told TMZ: "He said he was going to have someone come kill me, and see what he does?"
After the incident, Tompkins and Marquise ended up moving away from Fifty.
How Things Went Further South Between The Father And His Son
Following Fifty and Tomkin's confrontations, things started to heat up between the dad and his son. The father told MTV News: "My relationship with my son is changing because he and his mom aren't friends anymore."
Things got so bad, that a couple of years later, Marquise did not want to see his father anymore. According to Fifty, his son had completely taken his mom's side and "embraced her perspective on him." Tompkins responded to this with a few of her own words: "You don't have a relationship with my son because you choose not to. You want to bully him, threaten him, and talk about his mother in a disparaging manner." She also addressed the topic of Fifty "threatening to shoot his own son".
After a post uploaded by Marquise on Instagram, Fifty responded with: "Word to Mommy Hun!!!? Don't play with me boy. Kanan" The caption was followed by a frightened face, explosion, and a gun. The fact that Fifty signed off the caption with Kanan, the name of Fifty's character on the show Power, in which Kanan kills his son, is what caused all the controversy. Tompkins commented: "I don't try to mentally abuse my son like you do! I don't talk about you, your actions speak for themselves. Who threatens to shoot their son on Instagram?"
Following several other confrontations between Fifty and his son, Fifty not wishing his son a happy birthday, or missing out on his graduations, and the two not talking or meeting in over a year and a half, things eventually hit a dead end.
After being spotted watching his dad's performance in the audience at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York,a frustrated fan criticized the 43-year-old artist for not giving his son backstage passes, to which Fifty responded with: "I got a blood test, that's not my kid..." Yes... He actually disowned his son in front of at least 24.5 million people.
And what did Marquise have to say about this? The son uploaded to his Instagram a post of Maury Povich, an iconic figure for the words "You Are The Father" and "You Are Not The Father," of him nodding and smiling, an indication that Fifty is indeed the father.
Whether or not the two will go back to the way they were in the good old' days is unclear, they both have commented about possibly putting the feud aside to resolve the issue, but that remains to be seen.