Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Eminem Has a Stalker // The Matthew Huges Story

Episode Date: July 7, 2026

Matthew Hughes repeatedly stalked and broke into the Michigan home of rapper Eminem. In a terrifying 2020 encounter, Hughes smashed a kitchen window and woke a sleeping Eminem.

So why did Eminem's biggest fan try to murder him? And yeah, this really happened. So the story starts, of course, with Eminem, aka Marshall. And Eminem's around 27 years old when all this begins, and he's living in Michigan. And by this point in his life, he's already a world famous rapper. And inevitably, that comes with some problems. Like, people like his music so much that some of them become obsessed with him. Sometimes he gets letters from fans who feel entitled to a person.

personal reply from him, and when they don't get one, sometimes they follow up with another letter that's like angry or disturbing. And all of this eventually inspires Eminem to write his famous song, Stan, which is about an obsessed fan who goes crazy and gets violent. And this song will eventually get so big that they literally add the term Stan to the Oxford Dictionary to mean an overzealous or obsessive fan. Anyway, Eminem has no idea just how prophetic this song is about. to be. So in the year 2000 he releases his biggest album to date, the album that Stan is on. And so now he's the biggest rap star in the world. And because of that, his fans are going even more crazy and they're starting to show up to his house trying to meet him. And sometimes

they'll wait outside for hours hoping that they'll see him and they're like trying to take pictures and stuff. Or they'll bang on his door and expect him to answer like, I'm really glad you arrived. Would you like to come inside? Sometimes they'll trespass in his backyard or they'll swim in his pool or they'll steal his no trespassing signs. One fan even brings a saw and saws off his entire mailbox and runs away with it. And then one day, that same year, Eminem's chilling at home when boom, boom, boom, boom, a random fan starts banging on his door. And Eminem, he tries to ignore it, but he keeps hearing boom, boom, boom.

I mean, this fan is relentless. And Eminem gets super pissed off and he's sick of this, he's had enough. he goes and he answers the door and he sticks a pistol in the fan's face like let me be loud and clear you need to get out of here and the fan runs away probably all scared and so m&m starts thinking okay it's time to move and so he sells that house at a loss just to get out of there and he buys a new place also in michigan but this time in a gated community and he hires a security team to stay outside and guard the place 24 hours a day So fast forward to 2019, and Eminem looks like this now. And he's still living in this heavily guarded house.

And this is when this guy enters the story. His name's Matthew. And Matthew, he's around 26 years old and he is a huge Eminem stand. So much so that when he listens to his music, he thinks they have some sort of personal connection. And over time, Matthew has become determined to get close to him. And one night, that same year, he decides it's time to make that happen. So it gets to be around 4.30 a.m. And Matthew shows up to Eminem's old house, not knowing that he doesn't live there anymore.

And he starts ringing the doorbell over and over again. Now, Eminem, he doesn't live there anymore, but a new homeowner does. And this new homeowner wakes up to this crazy person outside his house at 4 in the morning. And so the new homeowner answers the door like, what do you want? And Matthew's like, I'm looking for my brother, Marshall. And the homeowner's like, no one by that name lives here. Get off my property. And he calls the police.

Now, I guess Matthew doesn't believe him because he doesn't leave. Instead, he trespasses onto the property and he walks through the backyard, finds a guest house, and he breaks inside. And eventually, police arrive and they find him there, hiding under a bed. And so, bam, he gets arrested. and he spends the next 90 days in jail. But then, around 2020, he gets out, and he goes right back to trying to find Eminem. And one morning, he finds his current address, and he shows up to the property, and it's 4 a.m. So Eminem is asleep in his bed.

Now, Eminem has hired security guards posted out front. So Matthew, he goes around to the backyard, and he sneaks onto the property that way. Then he picks up a brick and pows, he smashes through the kitchen window, and he crawls in through the broken glass. And this sets off an alarm, which wakes up M&M. So he gets up to investigate and turn off the alarm. And so he's there in his living room, and suddenly he feels someone standing right behind him. And he turns around and he says, what the fuck? And Matthew says, and I quote, I'm here to kill you.

Now, at this point, Eminem thinks he's about to die. I mean, a real-life stand has broken into his house and straight up told him that he wants to kill him. So Eminem thinks fast, and he calmly starts engaging Matthew in conversation, saying something like, never seen you around before. Would you like a house tour? And he starts guiding him through his mansion, loki leading him toward an exit where a security guard will be. And so he guides him through the TV area, the game,

room, they walk through a whole ass indoor basketball court, until finally they reached the side exit door and they step outside where security is and a security guard sees Matthew and he's like, oh shit, and pow, he tackles him to the ground. And eventually police come and bam, he gets arrested. Here's his mugshot. Now, over the next few years, Matthew is in and out of prison for various offenses. Now you'd think that during his time in lockup, he'd let go of his his Eminem obsession, but that's not what he does. So it's now 2024, and Matthew gets out of prison. And by this point, his whole life has become about being close to Eminem. And he does something crazier than ever. He goes into the woods next to Eminem's house, and he sets up camp, and he starts

living there. And he lives out there for months, just watching Eminem's house and waiting for an opportunity. But after that first incident, Eminem, he isn't fucking around anymore. He takes significant steps to make sure Matthew and people like him can't get to him again. Like he hires more security guards, he upgrades his video surveillance systems, he builds an entirely new room to sleep in, and it's like padlocked with a steel door, so his bedroom is basically a vault now. He also makes sure that everyone on his team knows exactly what Matthew looks like in case the guy ever tries to show up again.

And none of them know that he's been living in the woods nearby watching the house for months. Then one morning, around 7 a.m., Matthew finally sees an opportunity to make his move. And he must have been watching the house, because around this time, he sees that a door has been left unlocked, and he sneaks into Eminem's backyard again, and he uses the unlocked door, and he slips inside the house, and he starts searching for Eminem, who's asleep in his bed. But Eminem's upgraded video surveillance system flags an intruder, so security guards start closing in on Matthew fast. And Matthew panics, he's like, oh shit!

And he makes a run for it. And he steals Eminem's bike, and he pedals away as fast as he can, and he gets away. Then around three days later, by sheer coincidence, one of Eminem's employees is shopping at a local Walmart, and he just happens to see Matthew there and he calls the police. And so, bam, he's arrested again. Here's his mugshot again. And ultimately, Matthew goes to trial and he's found guilty

and he gets sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in prison.