Eminem and his ex are ready to retie the knot.
A month after announcing they were attempting to reconcile a volatile coupling that originally ended in divorce in 2001, the rap superstar and Kimberly Mathers have filed for a marriage license in their native Macomb County, Michigan, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Kimberly Mathers--who has kept the surname of her former husband, identified on the application by his legal name of Marshall Mathers III--submitted the paperwork Monday afternoon at the county clerk's office. The license was processed Tuesday and is expected to be picked up today. From that point, they will have 30 days to remarry.
There was no immediate word from Wednesday from the rapper's camp about when the new nuptials would take place. However, Star magazine has published what it claimed was a copy of the couple's wedding invitation, which says the ceremony is set for Saturday.
Eminem, 33, first disclosed that he and Mathers, 30, had gotten back together during an interview with Detroit radio station WKQI-FM in December.
The pair met in high school and grew up in towns adjacent to Eight Mile, the road on the outskirts of northern Detroit immortalized in the rap star's blockbuster film of the same name. They had a daughter, Hailie Jade, in 1995 and married in 1999, around the time of Eminem's ascendance to the top of the rap heap with his breakout album, The Slim Shady LP.
A year later, he penned the scathing track "Kim," in which he rhymed about killing his missus, giving the public insight into what had become an extremely turbulent, if not dysfunctional, union. Things only worsened later in 2000 when Kim Mathers tried to commit suicide in the couple's suburban Detroit home.
Within months, Eminem filed for divorce. Kim Mathers fired back with a lawsuit seeking her share of his fortune and an extra $10 million for the emotional distress caused by "Kim." The two reconciled briefly in December 2000, declaring their intention to work things out for the sake of Hailie Jade.
By March 2001, however, Kim filed for an expedited divorce, citing "a breakdown of the marriage relationship...and [because] there remains no reasonable likelihood that the marriage can be preserved." The move initiated a bitter custody battle that would end with the rapper agreeing to give her physical custody of their child and financial support.
Soon after the paperwork became final, Mathers began to spiral downward, getting busted for cocaine possession during a routine traffic stop. After repeated run-ins with the law, including more drug charges and skipped court dates, Mathers was put on probation and a judge awarded Eminem full custody of Hailie Jade.
But after his own stint in rehab to treat an addiction to sleep medication, and with his recording future in doubt after the release of his latest chart topper, Curtain Call, the rapper reconnected with Mathers for round two.
In addition to Hailie, 9, the couple are raising Kim's 12-year-old neice, Alaina Mathers, as well as her 2-year-old son, Whitney, she had while she and Eminem were divorced.