Cannon, who shares 12 children with six women, opened up about the reason behind his big brood.
Nick Cannon is getting candid about the real reason he became a father of 12.
During a Sept. 15 appearance on The Breakfast Club, The Masked Singer host admitted that his rapid journey into fatherhood was, at least in part, a response to unhealed trauma following his split from Mariah Carey.
"I'm learning that now," Cannon, 44, shared. "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."
Cannon, who shares twins Moroccan and Monroe, 14, with Carey; Golden, 8, Powerful, 4, and Rise, 2, with Brittany Bell; twins Zion and Zillion, 4, and daughter Beautiful, 2, with Abby De La Rosa; Legendary, 3, with Bre Tiesi; Onyx, 3, with LaNisha Cole; and daughter Halo, 2, with Alyssa Scott, as well as late son Zen, who passed away at 5 months old in 2021, explained that fathering so many kids wasn't part of some grand plan.
"It was more about like, 'Yo, I'm gonna just live life and have fun and whatever happens happens. I can handle it,'" he said.
Now nearing 45, Cannon admits hindsight has given him clarity.
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"Being almost 45 now, I could sit back and like, yeah, 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," Cannon reflected.
But when asked if he would still have had 12 kids had he done that "inner work," he replied, "I don't know. I've always said this, every child that I had was made out of love. And there were strong relationships."
Still, the Wild 'N Out star acknowledged that his 2016 divorce from Carey shaped the path he took.
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View Story"I probably would have took my time in a lot other scenarios," Cannon admitted. "And for whatever reason I thought that was the answer a lot of times. Like, 'Oh, I'm gonna figure it out over here.'"
He added, "Now, you're leaving trauma every step of the way instead of fixing it from its origin."
