Killer Mike Reveals He and Wife Shana Waited 9 Years to Tell Their Families They Were Married: 'No One Knew'

"No one really likes going to weddings — the food is s---ty," said the Run the Jewels rapper

Killer Mike and his wife Shana have been married for nearly 20 years — but the first nine of those were kept under wraps.

The Grammy-winning rapper, 48, opened up about his early years with Shana after they tied the knot in Las Vegas, and revealed that it took them nearly a decade to tell their families about their impromptu nuptials.

"Within the first two weeks [of dating] I asked her to marry me and she was like, 'Get the f--- out of here. You're a rapper.' So, after about, I think, four or five years, we got really high in Vegas, and really drunk, and I plead my love to her, and we went and got married in a f---ing drive-through marriage thing with our cab driver as our witness, and then we didn't tell anybody we were married for nine years," he said on the Off Menu podcast with Ed Gamble and James Acaster.

Mike said that for nine years, “no one knew” — until her family eventually began asking questions.

The Run the Jewels star (real name Michael Render) said Shana’s family is a “traditional, tight-knit” family from South Carolina, and after several years began peppering him with questions of whether or not he was going to marry Shana, with whom he shares four children, or “keep playing with her.”

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“We were already married!... We were trying to talk about like, ‘Hey, we’re trying to build on some land here, we’d like to put a house here,’ and they were like, ‘Nah, you’re just f---ing on our niece. What are you gonna do to take it seriously?’” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘Well, we’re already married.”

Mike joked that their families were “fine” with not being told about the Sin City wedding because “no one really likes going to weddings — the food is usually s---ty.”

The pair are parents to Malik, 29, Aniyah, 26, Pony Boy, 21, and Mikey, 17.

In February, when Mike won three Grammy Awards, Shana celebrated his accomplishments on Instagram, writing: ““We Winning baby !!!! 🏆 🏆 🏆 Clean Sweep 🧹This is your moment and we aren’t letting nothing take that away ! Live in your Magic Michael! #youdidIT #proudwife #LookAtGod”

Mike also paid tribute to his wife, writing on Instagram that he wanted to express his “heartfelt gratitude” to her.

Related: Rapper Killer Mike Tearfully Says 'We Want to See Systemic Racism Burnt to the Ground' in Plea

“You have held me down through thick and thin, and I couldn’t be prouder to be your husband and share this award with you,” he wrote.

In 2019, the star told CNBC Make It that marrying Shana was his best business decision, as she was his “fight coach” during a difficult financial time when he turned down a record deal with a major label and went independent.

“The fact that my wife has stood by me through thick and thin, through short and tall, it further ingrains [in] me: This is the person I’m supposed to be with,” he said. “I went broke, I failed. My wife was the only person who believed in me and wouldn’t let me give up on myself.” 

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