Nick Cannon says “trauma” stemming from his 2014 divorce from Mariah Carey led to him fathering 12 children.
In an interview on “The Breakfast Club” published Monday, September 15, Cannon, 44, explicitly explained that the pair’s break-up, as well as pressure from his career, complicated his decision-making abilities.
“I didn’t get a chance to slow down until I got in therapy,” Cannon said.. “But I was just like, ‘Look, I just got to keep making money. I got to stay hot. I got to stay funny.’ And everything else figured itself out. And I just didn’t do the work. So then I looked up with 12 kids later. Wow, I could have did things very differently.”
He added, “But I stand firm on all of my decisions because I love all my kids. I love my family infrastructure. But I know it all started from a place of pain and not really healing properly.”
Nick Cannon spoke openly about his attendance at various parties hosted by the now disgraced Sean “Diddy” Combs on the radio program “The Breakfast Club” on Friday, October 11 — admitting he was a “kid” around “16, 17” the first time he went to one in New York City. “I live my truth,” the father […]
After host Charlamagne Tha God asked point-blank if Cannon believes having “all those kids was a response to [Cannon’s] trauma,” the Drumline star answered, “Yeah. I’m learning that now.”
Cannon explained, “It wasn’t like I was acting out. It was more of being careless, being frivolous with my process, because I could do it, because I had the money, because I had the access to whoever and however I wanted to move.”
He added: “[As] opposed to doing a mature thing and saying, ‘Hey, well, it probably makes more sense to do this.’ And then, obviously, life happens as well. So it wasn’t like, ‘Well, I’m gonna go have 12 kids.’ It was more about, like, ‘Yo, I’mma just live life and have fun and whatever happens, happens, I can handle it.”
Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey Steve Granitz/WireImage
Cannon shares twins Moroccan and Monroe, both 14, with Carey, who he was married to from 2008 to 2016; he shares sons Golden Saigon, 8, and Rise Messiah, 2, and daughter Powerful Queen, 4, with Brittany Bell; twin sons Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, both 4, and daughter Beautiful Zeppelin, 2, with Abby De La Rosa; son Legendary Love, 3, with Bre Tiesi; daughter Onyx Ice Cole, 3, with LaNisha Cole; and daughter Halo Marie, 2, with Alyssa Scott. He and Scott are also parents to son Zen, who died in December 2021 of a brain tumor.
The actor and television host, who also opened up about his diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder, said therapy has helped. “Being almost 45 now, I can sit back and be like, ‘If I would have thought the process through a little bit more and took time to actually do the inner work, things might have been a little different in certain scenarios,’” he shared.
He told cohost Loren Lorosa, “I’ve always said this, every child that I have was made out of love.”
He added, “And it was strong relationships. It’s just if I would have done the work and the healing after getting divorced, I probably would have took my time in a lot of other scenarios. I thought that was the answer a lot of times. It was like, ‘Oh, I’mma figure it out over here. I’mma figure it out over here, [as] opposed [to] leaving trauma every step of the way, instead fixing it from its origin.”
Carey and Cannon settled the terms of their divorce in November 2016 after separating in December 2014. The pair agreed to joint custody of their twins and each kept the earnings they made during their marriage.
“They are in a great place and a real source of support for one another — plus a prime example of what coparents should be,” an insider exclusively told Us Weekly at the time.
Following their split, Carey was engaged to billionaire James Packer, but the twosome called things off in October 2016. She later dated back-up dancer Bryan Tanaka from 2016 to 2023. Cannon has been linked to the mothers of his children but has not publicly been in a committed relationship since he and Carey separated.
