Family legal fight for Eminem

Eminem had to pull out of two UK shows this weekend

Rapper Eminem's estranged wife is suing him for $10m (£6.75m) over his onstage antics and the lyrics of a song.

Kimberly Mathers said the song Kim, on Eminem's hugely successful Marshall Mathers LP, describes horrific domestic violence against her, resulting in her "grisly murder".

She joins the rapper's mother, Deborah Mathers-Briggs, who is also suing him for $10m for allegedly describing her in magazine interviews as an unstable, lawsuit-happy drug user.

Mathers-Briggs was reported on Tuesday to have launched a second defamation suit - this time for $1m (£675,000) - over comments Eminem made in another interview.

The controversial Grammy-winning artist, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, refused to accept an out-of-court settlement offer from his mother's lawyers earlier this month.

Divorce

Eminem's lyrics offended his mother

Eminem started divorce proceedings against his wife last week.

He is seeking joint custody of the couple's four-year-old daughter, Haile Jade, after casting doubts over his wife's fidelity.

But Kimberly Mathers, who attempted suicide last month, claimed that Eminem was unfit for even partial custody of their daughter.

Eminem split up with his wife two months ago, just a year after marrying his school sweetheart.

Court trouble

The latest defamation proceedings come on top of two criminal charges facing the musician.

The 27-year-old, who has been bailed for two separate firearms offences, had to pull out of this weekend's festivals in Reading and Leeds after he was told he could not leave the US.

He is charged with carrying a concealed weapon, and with assault with a dangerous weapon for allegedly threatening a man who kissed his wife at a bar.