Every parent feels guilty for one reason or another, but for Nick Cannon, the feeling is a little different. On the newest episode of Checkup with Dr. Agus, the actor and media personality discussed being a father of 11, and soon-to-be 12, children.
“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 people are asking how the Wild N’ Out host plans to stretch his time even further now that he and partner Alyssa Scott are expecting their second child.
“One ‘cause I’m constantly working and two because I’m just spread thin,” he explained.
Scott and Cannon’s first child, Zen, died of brain cancer in December at the age of five months. Cannon also discussed the couple’s choice to forego chemotherapy for their baby child.
“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 could have had asthma, the new parents took the infant to be visited by a doctor who was instantly alarmed by the child’s head size. Cannon reported that the physician remarked that this was the “first sign something was occurring.”
Zen was diagnosed with high-grade glioma, a rare and dangerous form of brain cancer, according to People. Chemotherapy, on the other hand, was just not an option for Cannon and Scott.
“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 plans to have his 12th child, many people question why he keeps having children and whether or not they are all planned. He has stated that he has always wanted a large family and that he may not be finished yet.
Cannon’s Christmas photos from various dates with his children and their moms began making the rounds online on Saturday, and there was a lot to say 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 far more willing 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 for 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.