Nick Cannon says he has been unfairly “villainised” and branded a “deadbeat dad” after fathering 12 children with six women.
Mariah Carey’s ex-husband has 11-year-old twins Monroe and Moroccan with the singer and he’s also helping to raise nine other children after his son Zen died in 2021 following a battle with a brain tumour, and Cannon says he shouldn’t be dismissed as a bad father just because he has a large family.
Speaking to the “Los Angeles Time”, he explained: “I’ve been villainised. I hear all the time: ‘You can’t be present for all those children.’ So therefore I get this deadbeat dad title.”
He’s dad to Golden, 6, Powerful, 2, and Rise, 7 months, with dancer Brittany Bell; twins Zion and Zillion, 1, and Beautiful, 5 months, with DJ Abby De La Rosa; Legendary, 9 months, with “Selling Sunset” star Bre Tiesi; Onyx, 7 months, with photographer LaNisha Cole; and Halo, 4 months, with model Alyssa Scott, who was also mum to his late son, Zen.
Cannon went on to insist that all the women he has relationships with understand he’s not going to settle down with them because he’s given up on the idea of marriage.
He added: “(They) know who they are … (they would rather have a companion than) someone who’s telling them they’re the only one but still f****** the neighbour.”
He added of his plan to never marry again after his failed union with Carey: “(As a man) who’s made his bones, you’re not looking to give half of what you built to someone you don’t even know.”
The film star also insisted he’s in a good position to look after all his children, insisting he makes more than $100 million a year and his child support bill is actually much higher than the $3m a year that was previously reported.
He said: “That’s (the $3m) not a lot of money … When you think about my lifestyle, I have to generate at least $100m a year.”
Cannon told the publication he’s bought homes for every woman he’s fathered a child with, and added: “There’s nothing that they could ask for (that I would say no to).”
He went on to insist he also allows them to make their own choices when raising his kids, saying: “I go along with it … This mom may love Ms Rachel (videos), and this mom may love ‘Your Baby Can Read’. I know that every mother is making decisions based off of love and what they believe is best for the child.”
Cannon previously insisted he takes his role as a dad very seriously, telling “ETCanada”: “Even now, I probably take it more seriously than when I first had my oldest, our twins. You’re so excited about the blessing of it, but then as they get older, you start to see how it changes you and allows you to zone in and focus.
“They’re not yours, you just have jurisdiction over them for about 18–20 somewhat years. Then that becomes like, ‘Oh wow, it’s a privilege to do this.’ And it is a responsibility.”