Nick Cannon Reveals His ‘Manship’ Was Affected While Parenting Twins With Mariah Carey: ‘I’m Main Character’
Nick Cannon just admitted that parenthood felt emasculating to him 10 kids ago, and it’s raising so many red flags. The Masked Singer star, who has 12 kids with several different women, opened up about the first time he became a dad with ex-wife Mariah Carey. The eyebrow-raising new interview is a great reminder to be careful who you decide to have kids with!
Thirteen years ago, Cannon and Carey welcomed twins Moroccan and Monroe, and for some reason, Cannon couldn’t handle Carey’s fame. “I didn’t actually really care what the world thought. But going to myself, that pressure of, ‘Who am I?’ I got married in my 20s to the biggest star in the world,” he said on an appearance of Ray Daniels Presents podcast, per Us Weekly.
“My trajectory was [down] here and she’s already in a different stratosphere,” the Wild ‘n Out host said about the “It’s a Wrap” singer. “I would lay up at night thinking, ‘Is this who I am? Am I Mariah’s man? Is that what my life is supposed to be?’” As if that would be so bad? To make matters worse, Cannon admitted to enjoy some aspects of Carey’s personal fame and success — namely, her money.
“She got islands and I was waking up at noon and people bringing me steaks on a platter. But I’m like, ‘This ain’t the hustle,’” Cannon continued. “And then when you have children … your manship is like, ‘Wait, I’m carrying a purse, the diaper bag, I’m standing on the corner.’ She’s rocking being all the alpha that she is.” He added that he didn’t like being a “participant” in Carey’s life. “I’m main character. I was getting mad at myself. It was like muscle atrophy. I had a gut. It was like, ‘I’m not being the dude God put me on this earth to be.’”
This entire interview is giving the ick. His wife was too successful so he couldn’t handle it? Holding the diaper bag is making him feel like his “manship” (whatever that is?) is in question? Later in the interview, he even admitted that he stayed in the marriage for several years because of “love,” but it still wasn’t enough (!!).
“The love kept me there. I was like, ‘You need a support system. You need somebody that don’t want you for your money, that’s sincere, somebody that’s willing to build a family and raise some amazing kids together,’” he said. “That was my goal. But then there was something constantly in me.”
So to fix it, he decided to go on a baby-making spree with women he wasn’t in relationships with? I guess this way, he can still have all the benefits of having kids with none of the responsibility or diaper bag-carrying duties. (Excuse me while I go throw up.)
Cannon is also dad to Golden Sagon, 7, Powerful Queen, 3, and Rise Messiah, 1, with Brittany Bell; 2-year-old twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, and Beautiful Zeppelin, 1, with Abby De La Rosa; Legendary Love, 1, with Bre Tiesi; Onyx Ice Cole, 1, with LaNisha Cole; and Halo Marie, 1, and a baby named Zen who died at 5 months old in 2021, with Alyssa Scott.
In an interview with PEOPLE earlier this year, he bragged about how easy being a dad is. “I’m never overwhelmed, because overwhelmed means like almost when you can’t handle it,” he said. “But I’m definitely overly energetic when it comes to all the energy that comes from my kids. I feel that daily. They drive me to thrive.”
“It’s definitely from the time I open my eyes to the time I get to close them at night, it’s all about the kids the whole time,” he added. “When you have 12, it’s definitely — they’re the pulse of all that I do.” (But wait, how does putting the kids first fit in with his “main character” energy?)
He added that he plans on his kids parenting him as they grow up, which again, is basically a walking red flag. “Luckily, I’ve been blessed that me and my kids are super cool and I’m such a big kid at heart that I’m probably more mischievous than them, so they’re always keeping me in line,” Cannon continued. “Even as teenagers, they got to keep me straight, and stop me from getting more tattoos, and doing all type of wild stuff like that. They’re the parent.”
No worries, at least the kids have moms who can step up to be the main influence in their lives. It’s well past time for divas to run the world!
Nick Cannon has a dozen kids — here’s what we know about each of them!