The phrase “it takes a village” is something Nick Cannon knows all too well as the father of 12 kids.
“I thank God for their mothers,” Cannon, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly while in Los Angeles at Fox’s Fall Press Day of managing his work and family life. “They kind of plan accordingly, and they don’t have to be, but they’re real empathetic to my process. So, you know, they do things. I’ve seen them make so many sacrifices, so I can be there and haven’t missed a birth or a birthday yet.”
Cannon noted that he doesn’t think of his professional and personal lives as two separate entities, telling Us, “It’s all the same.”
He added: “I’m so grateful to wake up each and every day, and whatever’s on the schedule, on the task, I’m like, ‘Let’s get it.’ Let’s say that. So it doesn’t seem hectic until somebody else points it out.”
Cannon shares his eldest two children — twins Moroccan and Monroe, 13, with his ex-wife, Mariah Carey. He shares kids Golden, 7, Powerful Queen, 3, and Rise, 2, with Brittany Bell, as well as kids twins Zion and Zillion, 3, and daughter Beautiful Zeppelin, 22 months, with Abby De La Rosa.
Cannon shares two kids — son Legendary, 2, and daughter Onyx, 2 — with Bre Tiesi and LaNisha Cole, respectively. He and Alyssa Scott, meanwhile, welcomed their daughter Halo, 21 months, one year after their 5-month-old son Zen died of brain cancer in December 2021.
Two of his toddlers, Onyx and Rise, celebrated their most recent birthdays within days of each other earlier this month. Cannon told Us that it’s “not that bad” handling two kids’ birthdays within a short period of time, noting, “It’s the ones when it’s super close — even some of the birthdays that are different years, but their birthdays are still close — that can get a little challenging.”
He continued: “I have two daughters that literally have birthdays that share a weekend in December and it’s Christmastime. So, it’s like that, that could get a little crazy.”
Despite already having a large brood, Cannon joked that he appreciates offers from fans to welcome more kids. “It’s crazy. I mean, because I’m on tour right now too, like, Wild ‘n Out and the signs in the crowd are like, ‘I want to be your next baby mama,’” he quipped. “I’m like, ‘Really? Is that what we doing?’ But I think it’s all in fun.”
While fans can see Cannon on stage on Wild ‘n Out’s current tour, which runs through December 13, he also returned to the small screen for season 12 of The Masked Singer. The new episodes will see the introduction of Masked Ambassadors, who will help provide hints about which stars are inside the show’s crazy costumed characters.
“Masked Ambassadors are really cool because they’re really friends of whoever’s behind the mask,” he told Us. “Sometimes they’ve been on the show, they have a connection to the show and it just gives you an extra clue of who the celebrity might be. You can hear about their inside jokes and things with how they know.”
Season 12 of The Masked Singer airs on Fox Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
With reporting by Sarah Jones
