Nick Cannon — who has 12 kids with six women — shut down critics who suggested he wasn’t a hands-on dad.
“I’ve been villainized,” Cannon told the Los Angeles Times Sunday.
“I hear all the time: ‘You can’t be present for all those children.’ So therefore I get this ‘deadbeat dad’ title,” he went on.
“It’s not about what I do for you or what I say to you, it’s about how you feel when I’m with you. If you feel loved when you see your dad, that’s what’s gonna resonate.”
The newly minted “Beat Shazam” host, 42, attributed his vast brood of children to his people-pleasing tendencies
“A lot of them are in the same age group,” he said of his various partners, noting that many of them expressed anxiety about their biological clocks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“And I just wanted to give them what they desired. I kept saying, ‘I can handle it.’”
The “Masked Singer” host, who revealed he makes $100 million annually, explained that all of his partners were aware he didn’t want a traditional relationship before they welcomed children together.
“[As a man] who’s made his bones, you’re not looking to give half of what you built to someone you don’t even know,” he said, noting he would rather have an honest relationship than be with “someone who’s telling them they’re the only one but still f—k the neighbor.”
However, Cannon has purchased homes for all of the women he shares kids with, and said “there’s nothing that they could ask [him] for” that he would say no to.
He also said he supports all of his baby mamas’ personal decisions. While he believes in vaccinations for children, some of his female partners don’t — “and I go along with it,” he explained.
“This mom may love Ms. Rachel [videos], and this mom may love ‘Your Baby Can Read.’ I know that every mother is making decisions based off of love and what they believe is best for the child.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the “Wild ’n Out” host likened his relationship with ex-wife Mariah Carey to “[Donald] Trump and [Vladimir] Putin.”
“Imagine if, like, Trump and Putin had to live in the same house,” he said of his dynamic with the pop diva during their eight-year marriage.
“It wasn’t even about her and I — we’ve always been good. It was more about us understanding that instead of making it about our relationship and what I want or what you want, we should just do what’s best for the children.”
Cannon and Carey share 12-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe.
Cannon is also a dad to sons Golden, 6, and Rise, 7 months, and daughter Powerful, 2, with Brittany Bell, as well as 1-year-old twins Zion and Zillion, along with daughter Beautiful, 5 months, with Abby De La Rosa.
Additionally, he is the father of son Legendary, 10 months, and daughter Onyx, 7 months, with Bre Tiesi and LaNisha Cole, respectively.
He most recently welcomed daughter Halo, 4 months, with Alyssa Scott. Tragically, their son, Zen, died in December 2021 when he was just 5 months old.
