Nick Cannon Gets Real About What Led To Him Having 12 Kids: ‘It Wasn’t Like I Was Acting Out’

Nick Cannon wearing glasses and smiling on The Masked Singer
(Image credit: Fox)

A few years ago it seemed like you couldn’t look at celebrity news headlines without seeing that Nick Cannon had fathered another child. The Masked Singer host has had 12 babies with six women, and while he and his baby mamas have always defended their unconventional lifestyle, Cannon has opened up about the “trauma” that he said resulted in having so many children.

Nick Cannon was a guest on The Breakfast Club radio show, where he said he’s learned that his actions a few years ago that led to so many babies — three in 2021; five in 2022 — were a response to unresolved trauma. The actor 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… Then, obviously, life happens as well, so it wasn't like 'Oh, I'm gonna go have 12 kids.' It was more about like, 'Yo, I'm gonna just live life and have fun and whatever happens happens. I can handle it.'

Nick Cannon has said before that he was always fully aware that not using birth control could lead to his partners getting pregnant, and here he admits that he was being "frivolous" with just saying “whatever happens happens.”

He mentions having enough money, and while he apparently doesn’t pay child support through the government, he has said he does provide for the mothers of his children, likely spending more than what would be required by law. Just for Disneyland alone, Nick Cannon has said he spends around $200,000 a year.

Despite the fact that money isn’t an issue, the Drumline star acknowledges that things might be different if he’d dealt with his trauma in a different way, saying:

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.

Does that mean he wouldn’t have so many children? Not necessarily, he said, continuing:

I don't know, that’s the only thing. Because I've always said this, every child that I had was made out of love and there were strong relationships. It’s just 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.

It’s good that Nick Cannon is now trying to work through his unresolved trauma, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s sired a pretty large brood. He doesn't seem to have any regrets, though he admits to not having “a normal existence,” and says each day brings new challenges. He said he embraces it all.

Nick Cannon shares twins Monroe and Moroccan (born 2011) with ex-wife Mariah Carey; Golden Sagon (2017), Powerful Queen (2020), and Rise Messiah (2022) with Brittany Bell; twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir (2021) and Beautiful Zeppelin (2022) with Abby De La Rosa; Zen (2021, who passed away at 5 months old) and Halo Marie (2022) with Alyssa Scott; Legendary Love (2022) with Bre Tiesi; and Onyx Ice (2022) with LaNisha Cole.

Heidi Venable
Content Producer

Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.

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