Eminem will headline three UK festivals

The rapper is due in Britain this week to perform headline slots at the Reading, Leeds and Glasgow festivals, and to perform with his band D12 in London.

His last visit sparked protests from critics, while the star was also investigated by police after pretending to take drugs on stage.

"Everything that I am doing right now is for Hailie," he told Q magazine. "The money - it's for her college."

Eminem, who is in divorce proceedings with his wife Kim, who is Hailie's mother, said his daughter "knows at the end of the day daddy is not what he says in his songs".

Anybody who takes it literally is a bigger idiot and 10 times sicker than I am

Eminem

The Grammy-winning star defended the lyrics in which he depicts violence against Kim.

He told the music magazine: "When I say I'll murder my baby's mother, maybe I wanted to do it but I didn't do it.

"Anybody who takes it literally is a bigger idiot and 10 times sicker than I am."

When Hailie was born, it was his "wake-up call", he said.

"She made me get my ass in gear - to make something of my life and try 10 quadrillion times harder than I had before."

He recently run into trouble with Australian family groups, who asked the government to deny him an entry visa.

But his short tour of the country was allowed to go ahead.

His British dates could only go ahead after he escaped jail when he was put on probation for two different gun charges this year.