For Nick Cannon, Mariah Carey will always be his baby.
Though it’s been eight years since the pair finalized their divorce, Nick still hopes that he and Mariah—with whom he shares 13-year-old twins Moroccan "Roc" Cannon and Monroe "Roe" Cannon—might find their way back to each other.
“We belong together,” Nick joked to E! News in an interview alongside his We Playin’ Spades cohost Courtney Bee, adding on whether he’d get back with his ex, “Yes, absolutely. Be stupid if I wouldn’t.” (For more with Nick and Courtney, tune into E! News tonight, August 6 at 11 p.m.)
But on what’s holding the pair back—especially since Mariah split with boyfriend Brian Tanaka in December—Nick quipped, “She don’t want me.”
To which his cohost Courtney joked, “Yeah, you done left and had like 10 kids.”
And Nick—who in fact does share ten additional children with various partners—took the joke in stride. “A whole baseball team,” the 43-year-old agreed. “Like, ‘No, you can't come back home.’”
Jokes about tension in his blended family, however, don’t sting. After all, Nick explained that the mothers of his children—Brittany Bell, Abby De La Rosa, Bre Tiesi, LaNisha Cole and Alyssa Scott in addition to Mariah—get along “amazing.”
“But that's the thing, I don't expect them to,” the Masked Singer host added. “I think that's the thing that people might always think that it would be that. But it's like everybody lives their own life, before me and after me.”
He continued, “So I think that's how you keep the peace and everybody moving, like everybody worried about themselves and not worried about what someone else is. As long as the kids are happy and they have the strongest understanding, I think that's what makes sense. You gotta operate out of that.”
But with his and Mariah’s twins already in their teen years, Nick took a moment to lament the approaching end of their coparenting days.
“We gonna be done soon,” he reflected. “We got teenagers now. I'm about to shed a tear. It's happening too fast.”
For more on Nick’s family tree, keep reading.
- Reporting by Paul Costabile
Season two of We Playin’ Spades is available on Wondery+, Wondery’s YouTube channel and everywhere podcasts are available.
Children No. 1 and 2: Moroccan Cannon and Monroe Cannon
Mariah Carey gave birth to her and Nick's twins on April 30, 2011. The two announced their split in 2015 after six years of marriage and finalized their divorce a year later.
Child No. 3: Golden "Sagon" Cannon
Beauty queen Brittany Bell gave birth to her and Nick's first child together, a boy, on Feb. 21, 2017.
Child No. 4: Powerful Queen Cannon
Brittany and Nick welcomed their second baby together, a girl, in December 2020.
DJ Abby De La Rosa gave birth to her and Nick's twin boys on June 14, 2021.
Model Alyssa Scott welcomed a baby boy with Nick on June 23, 2021.
However, just five months after the arrival of their son, Nick shared the devastating news that Zen had passed away from brain cancer. "Alyssa was just the strongest woman I have ever seen," he said on the Dec. 7 episode of The Nick Cannon Show. "Never had an argument, never was angry. She was emotional when she needed to be but was always the best mom and continues to be the best mom possible. So I've got to say thank you to my entire family but specifically to Alyssa."
"You never know what someone is going through," he added. "Hug your family. Kiss somebody. Tell them you love them."
Child No. 8: Legendary Love Cannon
Model Bre Tiesi welcomed her first child with Nick on June 28, 2022. The baby boy weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces at birth.
"I did it. An all natural unmedicated home birth," Bre shared in a July 2022 Instagram post. "This was the most humbling / limit pushing yet awakening and completely empowering experience. I can't thank my team enough for delivering my son safely."
Child No. 9: Onyx Ice Cole Cannon
Nick and model LaNisha Cole welcomed a daughter on Sept. 14, 2022.
Child No. 10: Rise Messiah Cannon
Brittany gave birth to her third child with Nick on Sept. 23, 2022.
Child No. 11: Beautiful Zeppelin Cannon
Abby gave birth to a baby girl, her third child with Nick, in November 2022.
Child No. 12: Halo Marie Cannon
Alyssa gave birth to her and Nick's daughter on Dec. 14, 2022.
The model shared an Instagram video showing the Wild 'n Out star helping to deliver their baby. "Our lives are forever changed," she wrote. "Zen is in every breath I take. I know his spirit was with us in the room that morning. I know he is watching down on us. He shows me signs everyday. I will hold onto this memory forever."
She continued, "I will remember the sound of Nicks voice saying 'it's a girl' and the look of everything we've been through flash across his face. I will remember the sound of her crying out with her first breath and feeling her heartbeat against mine. My sweet girl, I got my surprise!! We love you Halo Marie Cannon!"