Father of 12 Nick Cannon Wonders How He Had '5 Kids in 1 Year'

Nick Cannon sometimes finds himself questioning the speed at which he expanded his family.

Cannon, 44, who is the father of 12 children with six different women, told Vulture in an interview published Tuesday, July 15, that his kids are a “by-product of his eagerness to appease the women he was dating or his single friends who wanted kids.”

However, the Masked Singer host admitted that having five children in a single year may have been too much.

“It was also a little bit of, like, ‘OK, God, how did I have five kids in one year?’ Probably careless activity,” he continued.

Cannon welcomed five of his children in 2022, starting with son Legendary Love with Bre Tiesi in July. He later welcomed daughter Onyx Ice Cole, whom he shares with LaNisha Cole, that September.

Son Rise Messiah, whom he shares with Brittany Bell, was also born that month. The pair also share son Golden Sagon, who was born in February 2017, and daughter Powerful Queen, who was born in December 2020.

Cannon’s daughter Beautiful Zeppelin, whom he shares with Abby De La Rosa, was born in November 2022. Cannon and De La Rosa, 33, are also parents to twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, who were born in June 2021.

Cannon welcomed daughter Halo Marie with Alyssa Scott in November 2022. The pair previously welcomed son Zen, who died at 5 months old in December 2021 after he was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Cannon also shares twins Moroccan and Monroe, 14, with ex-wife Mariah Carey.

Elsewhere in his Vulture interview, Cannon revealed that late record producer Quincy Jones, who had seven kids with five different women, once warned him that he would want to have more children during his marriage to Carey, now 56.

“He used to talk to me when I only had two kids, and it was just me and Mariah,” Cannon, who met Jones on the set of Nick Cannon’s Star Camp in 2007, explained. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s light work. You going to get tired of that soon.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean? … I got an amazing wife who’s my dream girl!’”

Cannon said that Jones replied, “I know your kind … You’re cut from the same cloth as me.”

Cannon cited how Jones, who died at 91 years old in November 2024, reportedly left large inheritances for each of his kids.

“People ask, ‘Why you got 12 jobs?’ Because I’ve got 12 kids!” he joked. “I was like, ‘[Jones] did it right.’”

Earlier this year, Cannon revealed that while he isn’t planning to have any more children right now, he isn’t necessarily shutting down the idea of expanding his brood in the future.

“I really don’t know. I’m being honest. I’m having so much fun in this space right now, and the way my bank account is set up, I’m going to press hold on this 12 for right now,” he told People. “But. I was just speaking of three years from now [or] five years from now, who knows? I’m not against it.”

Cannon continued, “There was a point in time where I was just like, ‘Nah, I’m done.’ And, then I was like, ‘Who am I to say that?’ It seemed like it was such an emphatic thing. I never imagined that I would have 12 kids. So, it’s one of those things where I love children. I love my life, and if it could keep going in the direction that it’s going, why not?”