Eminem’s ex-wife, Kim Scott, has battled depression, addiction and more than her fair share of grief in her 46 years.
The mother-of-four was rushed to hospital after attempting to take her own life which followed the death of her mum, Kathy Sluck, at the age of 65.
The tragedy is the latest bump in a troubled life that saw Kim run away from home at 13, claiming she had been abused by her stepfather, and deal with her twin sister’s drug addiction and death by overdose at 41.
She had a tempestuous relationship with rapper Eminem, real name Marshall Mathers, who sang disturbing lyrics about her, including in the song Kim where he depicted himself murdering her.
She has attempted suicide previously and also battled depression and addiction throughout her adult life.
Before her latest suicide attempt, Kim posted a heartfelt message to her mum who died on July 23, writing: “You’re all I had left Momma.”
She went on: “I can’t imagine this without you! I love you Momma!!! Kiss my dad and sister for me.”
Here we look Kim Scott’s brave battle and how she’s tried to overcome the adversity she has faced.
According to Eminem, the couple met at a house party when he was 15 and Kim was 13.
“I’m standing on top of their coffee table with my shirt off, with a Kangol on, mocking the words to LL Cool J’s I’m Bad. And I turn around and she’s at the door smoking,” he said.
Born in Warren, Michigan, Kim and twin sister Dawn both left home at 13, allegedly to escape an alcoholic stepdad.
After running away from home she was taken in by Eminem’s mum, Debbie Nelson, who described her as a “tall, sulky blonde girl” in her memoir, My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem.
Debbie says the teenager opened up to her, claiming she had fled an abusive home.
“[She said she] had no idea who their real father was, and claimed to have been 𝓈ℯ𝓍ually abused by her stepfather,” Debbie wrote.
“Now, as often happens with troubled children, Kim told some pretty tall tales … I looked on Kim as a challenge, someone I hoped I could give a better life to.”
Homeless and pregnant by 21
Romance blossomed between the teenagers, but after Eminem dropped out of school to pursue a rap career, his mum told them to leave.
The pair were forced to live hand to mouth in poverty-stricken areas where drug use was rife and burglaries common.
“I went through four TVs and five VCRs in two years,” Eminem told Rolling Stone.
Kim was just 21 when she gave birth to Hailie Jade on Christmas Day 1995. The family moved back into Eminem’s mum’s trailer but the rapper claimed it was impossible to live there because of Debbie’s drug habit.
“My mother did a lot of dope and sh*t, a lot of pills – so she had mood swings,” he told Rolling Stone.
“She’d go to bed cool, then wake up like, ‘Motherf***ers, get out!’”
Debbie has always denied those allegations.
Murder fantasy in lyrics
The couple’s problems and the pressures of parenthood took their toll and caused frequent splits.
It was during one break that the rapper’s violent alter ego Slim Shady was born.
In a track on his breakthrough album, which was originally titled Just The Two Of Us, but was later retitled 97 Bonnie & Clyde, he fantasises about murdering Kim and dumping her body in the sea with the help of toddler Hailie who appears on the recording.
“I lied to Kim and told her I was taking Hailie to Chuck E. Cheese that day,” he said.
“But I took her to the studio. When she found out I used our daughter to write a song about 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing her, she f***ing blew. We had just got back together for a couple of weeks.”
Despite the constant conflict, the couple married on June 14, 1999, shortly before Eminem’s first major tour with Dr Dre.
But her husband’s fame had an adverse effect on Kim’s mental health.
“When Marshall’s first tour started is when his ego just went ‘poof’,” she told US TV’s Dr Keith Ablow.
“Like he was God, that’s what he thought.
“I was just told that I should be grateful that he still talks to me, you know how many women throw themselves at him. And I just pretty much felt like a piece of crap.”
At one gig, in 2000, Kim watched as he sang Kim – another abusive song which contains the lyrics “bleed, b**ch, bleed” – while punching a nude blow-up doll made up to look like her.
“Seeing the crowd’s response and everybody cheering, singing the words and laughing and it just felt like everyone was staring at me,” she told Ablow.
“I knew that it was about me and that night I went home and I tried to commit suicide,” she said.
Shortly afterwards, Eminem attacked rapper John Guerra, allegedly whipping him with a pistol, after Kim was seen kissing him.
After just a year of marriage the couple split, finalising their divorce in 2001. Kim wanted $15 million in compensation for “the intentional infliction of emotional distress” over the abusive lyrics.
The pair came to a settlement – with Kim receiving and undisclosed lump sum and $94,000 a year – and agreed on joint custody of Hailie.
Married for 41 days
Kim went on to have another daughter, Whitney, with tattoo artist Eric Hartter. (Hartter died in 2019 of a suspected overdose.)
But that relationship didn’t last and she rekindled her romance with Eminem. The rapper adopted Whitney as his own.
At the time, Kim’s sister Dawn was struggling with drug addiction, so Eminem and Kim also took in her daughter, Aliana, who they later adopted. They also took in Eminem’s younger half-brother, Nate.
The pair tied the knot again in 2006, but Kim was reluctant to go through with it.
“Even on that day I said, ‘Let’s just go through the ceremony but not sign the marriage licence.’ I was just afraid of what would happen if we had to go through a divorce, our kids. And then 41 days later, February 25, Marshall left,” she said.
Kim went on to have another child – a son, Parker – although little is known about his father.
Depression and drug battles
Kim has admitted she battled depression and drug addiction after her split with Eminem, taking cocaine and being caught drunk behind the wheel.
She has been arrested numerous times for drug possession.
Eminem has also spoken out about his addiction to prescription pills, such as Vicodin and Valium.
In an interview in 2015, she said people think “just because we have money, that it makes us happy”.
“Yeah, I can pay bills. Yeah, I can get my kids whatever they ask for and it’s great to see them happy. But you lose friends, you lose family, you have no one you can trust and you can speak to,” she said.
Setback after sister’s overdose
In January 2016, Kim’s twin sister Dawn Scott was found dead from a heroin overdose in the Motor City Trailer Park.
Dawn – who had been homeless for two years – had slammed her sister for not helping her out, despite having millions.
But her death hit Kim hard and she left an emotional message to “my sweet, beautiful sister who lost her way”.
In the tribute on the funeral home website she wrote: “Half of me is gone – I kept a light lit for her, hoping she’d find her way back to me.”
The tragedy tipped her back into depression and she later revealed: “Honestly, I was starting to do better. After the death of my sister I had to go look at her dead in that trailer and just everything that was being said about her. It just hurts and now this.”
She added that Eminem had been “very supportive” of her.
“We are very close friends; we are just trying to raise our kids together and make it as normal for them as possible.”
How they get on now
Eminem and Kim have become increasingly close in recent years, with the rapper apologising for the way he treated her in his 2017 song, Bad Husband, and suggesting he hit her during their time together.
The song contains the lines: “We might have loved each other too much / And maybe that’s what made us do what we did to each other / All the screw-ups.”
But while Kim has been getting support from her ex and daughter Hailie, now 25, the death of her mum at the home where Kim nursed her through a long illness tipped her over the edge once again.
In an emotional post she wrote: “We’ve had our riffs but not one second of one day would I not have given my last breath for you. Even now I’d rather it be me than you!!! You’re all I had left Momma!!! What do I do now??”
She added: “I don’t even know how to do this without you.”
Kim’s latest attempt to take her own life will hopefully mean she gets the support she needs to get through.
