Eminem's rise to Rap God status wouldn't have been complete without his infamous, tumultuous, off-and-on relationship with his old-time high school sweetheart, Kimberly Anne Scott. The two went back and forth, each with their fair share of not-so-nice words in the late '90s and 2000s.
Not long after they welcomed their only biological daughter, Hailie, on Christmas day of 1995, life became a rocky ride for the couple. Back then, money was a big issue for Eminem and Kim, as they found themselves moving from one place to another. Eminem's new-found stardom after releasing The Slim Shady LP in 1999 added insult to injury for the relationship. To sum it up, here's a simplified timeline of Eminem and Kim's relationship.
10 1987: Marshall Mathers & Kimberly Scott Met For The First Time
Marshall Mathers and Kimberly Scott's relationship can be traced all the way back to their teenage years in the 1980s. Young Marshall, who was only 15, met 13-year-old Kim when he was rapping to LL Cool J's "I'm Bad" on the table, shirtless.
"Marshall arrived home from school with a tall, sulky blonde girl," Eminem's mother, Deborah Nelson, writes in her memoir My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem. "He introduced her as Kim Scott and said she needed a place to stay."
9 1998: Eminem Recorded '97 Bonnie & Clyde'
Soon after they welcomed Hailie in 1995, Eminem struggled with making ends meet to the point where he even contemplated suicide. At one point, according to the rapper himself, Kim stopped Eminem from seeing his daughter.
Frustrated, Em went to the studio to record '97 Bonnie & Clyde' (titled 'Just the Two of Us' on the Slim Shady EP). The song chronicles Em and then-infant Hailie dumping the dead body of Kim to the bottom of the water.
8 1999: The Two Tied The Knot
However, despite everything, Eminem and Kim tied the knot in July 1999, the same year The Slim Shady LP dropped under Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Unfortunately, as the result of his skyrocketing career and new-found fame, the Mathers' marriage was subsequently damaged.
"When Marshall’s first tour started is when his ego just went "poof," like he was God, that’s what he thought," Kim told Dr. Keith Ablow in 2007.
7 2000: Eminem Aired Their Dirty Laundry On 'The Marshall Mathers LP'
Even more so, Eminem added insult to injury by adding the high-pitched, full-of-anger "Kim" to his sophomore album, The Marshall Mathers LP. The song tells the events leading up to '97 Bonnie & Clyde' where she and the rapper find themselves in a nasty argument full of anger and intensity.
As the rapper writes in his autobiography, Angry Blonde, "Kim" was written during one of the times when he and Kim were not in a relationship. Inspired to write a love song and scream his heart out without "sounding too corny," Em went to the studio and did the vocal for "Kim" in only one take.
That same year, Em pistol-whopped the 6'2" club bouncer, John Guerra, for kissing Kim in front of Detroit's Hot Rocks. Em pled guilty and received two years of probation.
6 2006: Kim & Eminem Re-Married For 3 Months
However, despite everything, the two were just the right amount of "match made in heaven" that they always tried to find a way back. In 2006, Eminem remarried Kim in a private ceremony at Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester, Michigan.
Unfortunately, this marriage only lasted for three months, as Em succumbed to his personal demons. In the same year, Eminem's fellow member of D12 and long-time best friend, Proof, was killed after a billiard game gone wrong, making it one of the worst years of the rap star's life.
5 2007: Kim Broke Her Silence
In 2007, Kim broke her silence and spoke to Dr. Keith Albow on national television. She recalled every moment from when the rapper beat up a blow-up doll that resembled her while singing a song about her to the point where she contemplated ending her life. However, despite all things said and done, Kim admitted that Marshall was a good father to Hailie.
"I believe that Marshall has issues on how to express his love, and I don’t think he knows how to treat women because he wasn’t treated well by his mother. He still had a lot of anger towards her," she said.
4 2015: Kim Was Arrested For A Suicide Attempt
A rumor in 2010 broke out that Eminem and Kim tied the knot again, but the two quickly shut the speculation.
"We’re really close friends, we’re just trying to raise our kids together and make it as normal for them as possible," said Kim, revealing that she had maintained a good relationship with Marshall.
However, in 2015, Kim had a run-in with the law after another suicide attempt. Speaking to Detroit's "Mojo in the Morning," Kim said that she once took heavy pills and rammed her car into a pole.
3 2016: Kim's Twin Sister, Dawn, Was Found Dead
The next year, Kim's twin sister, Dawn, was found dead of "an apparent heroin overdose." Dawn was the biological mother of Alaina, who Eminem adopted in the 2000s.
"He’s been real supportive," Kim said, noting Marshall as one of the few people who supported her during the dark time of her life.
2 2017: Eminem Dropped 'Bad Husband' & A Publicly Apology To Kim
By 2017, Eminem and Kim's relationship was no longer a controversial subject, as the rapper buried the hatchet with "Bad Husband" from the critically-panned Revival album.
"But I'm sorry Kim / More than you could ever comprehend / Leaving you was f*****g harder than / Sawing off a f*****g body limb," Eminem raps.
1 Now: Kim Gets Clean
After years of personal struggle, Kim has gotten herself clean and established herself as a writer of kid books. Some of the titles she's written are Mommy! There’s a Snot Man Standing Next To You and Kids in Context: The Sociological Study of Children and Childhoods. She also has a son named Parker from another relationship.