Comedian and actor Nick Cannon said he is taking a break from having children — for now.
The mogul and father-of-seven said that he was advised by his therapist to “be celibate” for a while, during an interview with Entertainment Tonight on Thursday.
The 40-year-old just welcomed four new kids — his daughter Powerful Queen, his twin boys Zillion and Zion, and his son Zen S. — within a seven-month span from December 2020 to June 2021. The father already had three kids, his twin girl and boy Monroe and Moroccan which he had with ex-wife and singer Mariah Carey, and his son Golden Sagon, which he had with ex-girlfriend Britney Bell.
However, the busy comedian said that he is not opposed to expanding his family in the future.
“I’m not sitting out here planning it. My therapist says I should be celibate,” he said in the interview. “I come from a big family, I have several siblings, [and] being raised in an unorthodox family by my grandparents at times, I’ve experienced such a wide range of upbringing that I have such a love and passion for kids and family. I want a big family too. The Lord has blessed me with what I asked. Ask and you shall receive.”
The Wild N’ Out creator and host has been turning heads ever since he began speaking publicly about his decisions to procreate at a rapid rate.
During a 2017 interview with Howard Stern, Cannon explained that his battle with lupus has changed his mindset in various ways, particularly when it comes to his desire to have a big family.
“When you experience near-death situations [and] life-threatening situations, it’s honest, it’s real,” he said in the interview with Stern. “I feel like, yo, I’m running out of time. Every time I think I’m doing good, then I gotta go back to the f**king hospital,” he added.
Lupus is an inflammatory disease that causes the immune system to attack itself, causing rashes, heart issues, joint pain, fever, and rarely causes death. The disease disproportionately affects minorities, especially Black women who are two to three more times likely to be diagnosed than their white counterparts.
Cannon has received much criticism about his choice to have children in this manner. He got advice from a member of the rap group the City Girls, JT, who told Cannon to “wrap it up,” during a conversation on Power 106 in July.
“I’m having these kids on purpose,” said the actor, who has been unapologetic about his stance on extending his lineage. “I didn’t have no accident.”
During an interview with the Breakfast Club in August, the father said the idea of having “one person for the rest of your life” is a Eurocentric concept that he does not subscribe to.
In early September, Cannon joked with TMZ about opening the “Cannon Sperm Bank” to help other people have kids. When asked if he wanted to have more children, he replied, “God willing … if God sees it that way, I’m gon’ keep doing it.”
Towards the end of the interview, Cannon said we will be seeing more of him.
After serving as a host for a number of hit programs like America’s Got Talent and The Maked Singer, Cannon’s new syndicated daytime talk show, is set to premiere on September 27.
“[I’ve] never been a person that’s shied away from talking about my life,” he told ET. “I want to refocus it on others. I’m gonna be talking for an hour each and every day, hopefully, people get to know me in a very intimate way. If I’m in the headlines the night before, I’m definitely talking about it the next morning.”
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