All parents carry a little bit of guilt for one reason or another, but for Nick Cannon, Dad guilt hits a little different. The actor and media personality recently opened up about being a father of 11, and soon to be 12 on the latest installment of Checkup with Dr. Agus.
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“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. Many are wondering how the Wild N’ Out host now plans to stretch his time even further given that he’s expecting a new child with partner Alyssa Scott.
“One ‘cause I’m constantly working and two because I’m just spread thin,” he explained.
If you recall, Scott and Cannon tragically lost their first baby, Zen last December at just five months to brain cancer. Cannon also spoke about the couple’s decision to not have the baby boy undergo chemotherapy.
“He was healthy, active, always smiling,” the father said of Zen. The baby apparently also experienced breathing problems as early as two months.
“We [also] noticed his head was a little larger, [but] all my kids have big heads. I was a big-headed baby,” Cannon mentioned.
Believing that Zen might have had asthma, the new parents took the baby to be seen by a doctor who was immediately alarmed by the child’s head size. Cannon stated that the physician mentioned that this was the “first sign something was occurring.”
According to People, Zen was diagnosed with high-grade glioma, a rare and aggressive form of brain cancer. But for Cannon and Scott, chemo was just not an option.
“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, who knows all too well about the treatment (as he has also had to undergo a form of chemotherapy himself for his lupus), told the show’s host that he “knew what that did to me.” As Cannon expects his 12th child, many wonder why he continues to father kids, and whether or not they’re all planned. He has insisted that he’s always wanted a big family, and that he just might not be done yet.
On Saturday, Cannon’s holiday photos shot on various dates with his children and their mothers began making the rounds online, and there was a lot to be said on social media.
One Twitter user asked, “How is he gonna spend time w them if he busy conceiving more?”
“I think he’s trying to have as [many] before his journey ends on earth,” one Instagram commenter wrote with a sad face emoji as a take on Cannon’s familial extension or health.
Others are much more eager to criticize the father’s decisions.
“He’s creating generational trauma,” another comment read.
Others still see nothing but a man trying to do his best by all of his children.
“A father that’s trying to be a good dad to all his kids regardless,” one Instagram user wrote, making the point that there are a lot of parents out there struggling to do the same.
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