Nick Cannon says unresolved pain—not impulse—was behind his decision to father 12 children across multiple relationships, opening up about his past choices during a revealing conversation on The Breakfast Club.
The 44-year-old media mogul and Wild ‘N Out creator reflected on how trauma and unchecked emotions shaped his approach to parenthood, admitting he once moved through life with little pause for reflection.
“It wasn’t like I was acting out,” Cannon said. “It was more of being careless, being frivolous with my process because I could do it, because I had the money (and) because I had the access to whoever and however I wanted to move.”
Cannon, who was previously married to pop icon Mariah Carey, said he didn’t set out to build a sprawling family.
“Then, obviously, life happens as well, so it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna go have 12 kids.’ It was more like, ‘Yo, I’m gonna just live life and have fun and whatever happens happens. I can handle it.'”
Nick Cannon and Scott also had a son, Zen, who died from brain cancer at five months old in December 2021.
Looking back, Nick Cannon acknowledged that failing to process the emotional fallout from his divorce contributed to his choices.
“If I would have did the work and the healing after getting divorced, I probably would have took my time in a lot of other scenarios,” he said. “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.”
Cannon also admitted that the end of his marriage left him feeling defeated.
“I felt like a complete failure,” he said, though he maintained that separating from Carey was ultimately “the right decision.”