Nick Cannon told radio listeners that becoming a father 12 times was a “trauma response” to his divorce from Mariah Carey, calling his post-split behavior “careless” and “frivolous.” The 44-year-old host of The Masked Singer discussed the topic Monday on Power 105.1 FM’s The Breakfast Club, saying he did not do the emotional work and healing after the couple’s 2016 divorce.
“If I would have did the work [and] the healing after getting divorced, I probably would have took my time in a lot other scenarios,” Cannon said, according to a clip shared by host Charlamagne tha God on Instagram. He added that instead of addressing trauma at its origin, he left “trauma every step of the way.”
Cannon and Carey, who were married from 2008 to 2016, share twins Moroccan and Monroe, now 14. In the interview, Cannon outlined how his family grew after the split: he has three children with Brittany Bell — son Golden, 8; daughter Powerful, 4; and son Rise, 2 — and three children with Abby De La Rosa — twin sons Zion and Zillion, 4, and daughter Beautiful, 2. He also has daughter Onyx, 3, with Lanisha Cole; son Legendary, 3, with Bre Tiesi; and daughter Halo, 2, with Alyssa Scott. Cannon and Scott were also the parents of son Zen, who died in December 2021.
The actor and comedian said practical factors contributed to the family’s expansion. “I had the money. … I had the access to whoever and however I wanted to move,” he said, adding that his approach was to “live life and have fun” and let events unfold, thinking he could “handle it.” He acknowledged that, in hindsight, he could have “thought the process through a little bit more” and taken more time to do “inner work.”
Cannon’s comments prompted mixed reactions on social media. Some users praised his candor and described the remarks as a sign of maturity. Others criticized him, saying it should not have taken fathering a dozen children to recognize a pattern of behavior.
In March, Cannon told the We Playin’ Spades podcast that he was “not done” having children, and said he would “leave it to the Lord” whether he would father more. On Monday he suggested that had he sought therapy or done emotional work after his marriage ended, “things might have been a little different in certain scenarios.”
Cannon has built a public persona spanning television hosting, comedy and music since his early career on Nickelodeon’s All That and later with Wild ’N Out. His remarks on The Breakfast Club represent a more direct public acknowledgment of how personal upheaval affected his decisions about family building. He did not outline any specific plans to change his approach going forward, beyond the suggestion that earlier emotional work could have altered past choices.
Producers of The Breakfast Club and representatives for Cannon did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment. Careful disclosure about family details and the 2021 death of his son Zen have been part of Cannon’s public statements in prior interviews and social-media posts.