Nick Cannon slams criticism that he's a 'deadbeat dad' to his 12 kids: 'I've been villainized'
- In a recent interview, Nick Cannon responded to critics who say he's a "deadbeat dad."
- Cannon notably has 12 children with six different mothers, but said he's present for each of them.
Nick Cannon may be a father to 12 children, but the actor said in a recent interview that he's been unfairly labeled a "deadbeat" parent by some critics.
"I've been villainized. I hear all the time: 'You can't be present for all those children.' So, therefore, I get this deadbeat dad title," Cannon told the Los Angeles Times' Amy Kaufman.
But according to Cannon, he keeps track of his children's schedules and tries to spend as much time with each of them as possible — even if it's just to drive them to an extracurricular activity or school.
"Right now the narrative is, 'He has a bunch of kids,'" Cannon said in the interview. "But I'm really at a place now where I don't care what people know. I'd rather just operate. It's more about really being a good person instead of telling people you're a good person."
Cannon famously shares 11 children with six different women. He has 11-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-wife Mariah Carey, and three children (Golden, 7, Powerful, 2, and Rise, seven months) with model Brittany Bell.
He's also a father to 1-year-old twins Zion and Zillion and 5-month-old Beautiful with radio host Abby De La Rosa; nine-month-old Legendary with model Bre Tiesi, four-month-old Halo with model Alyssa Scott, and seven-month-old Onyx with film producer LaNisha Cole.
Cannon and Scott also had a son, Zen, together, who died of brain cancer at five months old.