Comedian and entertainer Nick Cannon thinks “it all makes sense” why he’s a father to 12 children with six different women. The 42-year-old admitted that he’s had “manifestations or even these visions” from God that have shown he would have a bountiful brood and thinks he’s found their meaning, as he described in a podcast with Dr. Laura Berman.
He explained of unclear visions he’d have surrounding fatherhood, saying, “You get them in pieces, or they’re fragmented. And so, is it like the Father Abraham conversation, ‘You’re going to be the father of many nations?” he questioned, referencing the biblical tale of God promising Abraham that He would make him “exceedingly fruitful,” among other things.
Cannon continued, “I’ve never heard that clarity, but I heard that like, ‘Yo, you’re going to be a father of many. There’s going to be your great influence, your lineage, and your offspring are going to do great things.’ Like I’ve had that, and I’m like, ‘Oh well, the more, the merrier.’ We roll the dice to the name and what you will build.”
He explained that he’d had even more visions involving his legacy. He said, acknowledging the famous family’s global success and full size, saying, “I’m careful with even how I talk about that because I don’t like to say, like, I don’t use the term ‘legacy’ anymore,” adding that he’s comfortable with “lineage.”
He continued, “Legacy is about what you do, not what you produce. My children hopefully will have their own legacies; what did you mean to the world? If my legacy was to have children, that’s not impressive. I want my legacy to be someone who did for others, someone who built hospitals and education facilities and left literature and content to where you say, ‘Wow, he was a thinker. He was a doer. He cared about people.’ That’s your legacy.” However, he clarified that his children are his lineage.
Cannon is willing to discuss the irregularity of having eight children under three years old, something he says was not planned. Many women he has been involved with have been on birth control or have not intended for children when they conceived with the musician. He says of his partners’ getting pregnant, “I lend that stuff to God. Like those are miracles.”
However, he’s reluctant to say it’s all in the hands of God. He acknowledged previous comments on the matter, saying, “I got in trouble about this too, before. Because people would ask me, am I done? And I’d always say, ‘Only God can let me know when I’m done.’ Because as much as I was open to every single child that I had, I can’t say the majority of them were planned. If you would have told me in 2012 when I was still married, just diagnosed with lupus, that 10 years from now that I would have 12 children, I would be like, ‘f— out of here!'”
Cannon welcomed his 12th child in December, a daughter named Halo Marie, with Alyssa Scott. The couple are also parents to son Zen, who died in 2021 at five months old. He shares two oldest children with Mariah Carey, twins Moroccan and Monroe. He has three with Brittany Bell: Golden Sagon, Powerful Queen and Rise Messiah.
Abby de la Rosa has three kids with Cannon, Zion Mixolydian, Zillion Heir and Beautiful Zeppelin. Brie Tiesi and LaNisha Cole have one child with him, Legendary Love and Onyx Ice. “My children are my priority,” Cannon explained of his pack.