Elliot Marshall is heading into his second Halloween with a much clearer idea of what “scary” means.
Last year, Hailie tried to create a Halloween atmosphere in her house. But tiny Elliot was too young to understand the effort, let alone the whole spirit of Halloween.
Now, Hailie revealed on a recent episode of her podcast that the little guy now recognises when something is meant to be scary. And while the most traditional tricks left him nonplussed, a slender pumpkin-headed figure made Elliot shiver.
I took Elliot to Home Depot. I had to get sand for the sandbox. And they had their Halloween animatronics everywhere. Last Halloween, he was not fully aware of what was scary or not. Now he was fully aware of all of it. At first he was okay. And I’m shocked because one of the things we walked by just went off. I didn’t press the button or anything, so I wasn’t like, “Oh, you ready?” It just went off. And he was fine with it. It was like a creepy parrot. He was just like, “Oh, okay, whatever. This weird bird is talking to me”.
But then they had this super tall guy with a pumpkin face. [Elliot] was doing fine with everything. So, I’m like, “Oh, not scared. He doesn’t know that this is scary”. But as soon as I pressed the button and it moved, [Elliot] looked, then looked at me, and he was terrified. So I was like, “Okay, let’s go sidewalk”. And he literally got the chills down his spine. He has an innate reaction to be scared of this, and he has really no reason to. I guess it’s a survival instinct or something. But he literally got the chills. He was disgusted by the thing, and I was like, “I’m so sorry!” He was fine with everything. So, yeah, that was fun.
In a family where his mother appreciated a solid horror movie from an early age and grandad is a master of horrorcore, little Elliot might build his tolerance up quickly. But obviously, not under pressure. Everything Hailie shared with the public about her family life shows how thoughtful she is about giving her son both new experiences and strong protection.
Whether Elliot is driving a toy car that Eminem gave him, or watching spooky figures descending on the city on Halloween – his is clearly making sure he feels safe while he discovers the world. That sense of safety has always been central to the family story Eminem built around his children. Now, Elliot gets to grow up inside it too.