Nick Cannon has debuted a new tattoo in honor of his late son, Zen.
During a recent episode of his talk show, “The Nick Cannon Show,” the 41-year-old showed off the new ink during his Pic of the Day segment.
“This is a week where I’ve seen so much love. More love than I’ve probably ever experienced so even in the midst of a loss, I gotta say thank you to y’all,” he said. “Last night, I got the opportunity to go get a tattoo of my son Zen as an angel on my rib.”
The presenter held up a framed photo of the completed ink, which shows the late five-month-old as a sleeping angel, and continued, “I’m still all bandaged up, and it hurts right here right now… It was a lot of pain, but it was so well worth it… I enjoyed every moment of the experience to forever have my son right here as my rib, right here on my side, as my angel.”
In a video clip, the former “Wild N’ Out” host can be seen getting the tattoo, soon welling up with emotion after seeing the image of his son for the first time. He later wrote on Instagram that the tribute means he will “always have this angel with me.”
The comedian explained that Zen had recently been diagnosed with hydrocephalus, or a build-up of fluid in the brain, as well as a malignant tumor.
He had undergone surgery but took a turn for the worse around Thanksgiving last month.
“Ultimately, it was cancer in the brain, and the tumor began to grow a lot faster. And so, we knew that time was…,” he said, before sharing that he held his son for “the last time” on December 5th.
