Nick Cannon has opened up, again, about being a father of 11 minor children and revealed something that most of us could probably predict — he doesn’t get to spend enough time with all of his children. He says that it’s his biggest guilt that he’s unable to do so because he is always working and just spread thin. Nick shared these feelings during an appearance on a Paramount+ show, where he also talked expecting his 12th child with Alyssa Scott and the tragic death of their son Zen a year ago.
Nick Cannon is having dad guilt.
The Wild N’ Out host, 42, appeared in the latest installment of The Checkup with Dr. Agus on Paramount+, and opened up about being a father of 11.
“Being a father of multiple kids, it’s always the biggest guilt on me is that I don’t get to spend enough time with all my children,” said Cannon, who is currently expecting his 12th child with Alyssa Scott.
“One ’cause I’m constantly working and two because I’m just spread thin,” he explained.
Also during the sit-down, Cannon shared why he and Scott did not want their first baby, son Zen, to undergo chemotherapy after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Zen died at 5 months old last December.
“He was healthy, active, always smiling,” Cannon said of his baby boy’s early days, until around two months old, he noticed the infant’s “interesting” breathing patterns.
“We [also] noticed his head was a little larger, [but] all my kids have big heads. I was a big-headed baby,” Cannon added.
Suspecting Zen might have asthma, the parents took him to a doctor’s appointment where his physician was immediately concerned with the size of the baby’s head, which was the “first sign something was occurring.”
Zen was diagnosed with high-grade glioma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. Cannon and Scott were presented with the option of chemotherapy as a course of treatment.
When it came to chemo, Cannon asked if that would extend Zen’s life or lessen his suffering, to which they told him, “not really,” because of the placement of the tumor.
“Seeing your son hooked up to all of those machines — and he had to go for a shunt two or three times, and that was heartbreaking every time — even in that short amount of time, I couldn’t imagine him having to go through chemo.”
Cannon experienced a form of chemo himself as a treatment for his lupus and “knew what that did to me.”
I think that’s the most detail Nick (or Alyssa) has ever gone into about Zen’s brain cancer and death. It’s an incredibly tragic story and certainly Nick didn’t have to explain their reasoning for how they chose to treat him, though it does make sense. Hopefully the baby they’re expecting is healthy and they can have an easier time as new parents this time. As for what Nick says about not spending enough time with his kids… Yeah, of course. Many parents have a hard enough time working and giving attention to three children, let alone 11-12 spread out across different households. He’s telling us a very obvious thing, perhaps one he could have predicted when he decided to have so many children in such a short span of time. No one thought he was putting in a ton of quality time with all these kids, you know? Obviously the moms are doing the lion’s share of the child-rearing. Also, Nick was in the hospital recently for pneumonia. Glad he’s doing better.
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