The media personality is a dad of 12.
Nick Cannon wants his kids to follow their dreams. ET spoke to the dad of a dozen alongside Kelly Osbourne, and he opened up about if he thinks his kids are nepo babies and if he wants them to follow in his footsteps.
Cannon is dad to Legendary, 10 months, with Bre Tiesi; Rise, 5 months, Powerful, 2, and Golden, 6, with Brittany Bell; Beautiful, 3 months, and Zion and Zillion, both 1, with Abby De La Rosa; Halo, 2 months, and the late Zen with Alyssa Scott; Onyx, 5 months, with LaNisha Cole; 12-year-old twins, Monroe and Moroccan, with Mariah Carey.
"Out of all my kids, I'm like, if they want to be in entertainment, that's fine, but that's almost easy," Cannon told his Beat Shazam co-star. "I want you to do something that's challenging, go outside of the box, so you can see effort and perseverance and those things, because they're a nepo baby. There's advantages to a kid. You're just like, 'Oh, this is natural.'"
That is why, Cannon revealed, he loves watching his kids do non-music related activities.
"That's why I love... to see my kids try sports, because it has nothing to do with anything. It literally is however much work you put in, how hard you go, that's how you'll succeed in that space," he said. "They can learn all of those cool principles through having fun with their friends. I'm hoping for a few athletes. I hope I can be that dad on the sidelines somewhere rooting for them. But, again, if they want to be accountants or equestrians I don't care."
While all of Cannon's kids may not follow in his footsteps professionally, he revealed that he does buy them instruments and enroll them in music classes.
"I wish I would have learned theory and all the musicality at a very young age, because then I would be such a better musician even today," he said. "So I'm giving them that gift. I'm like, 'Look, you're gonna get the lessons. You're gonna know how now you can do whatever you want to do. You get to impress the girls, or you can make a career out of it.'"
Though he wants them to follow their own passions, Cannon admitted that he has been "thinking about" the possibility of starting a family band.
"I'll put everybody on a bus," he quipped. "I honestly do think about that, though, because music is just in my blood and and that is where we find joy in our household, so I would love it."
What Cannon doesn't love is spending time away from his kids, which is a necessity when he goes into work.
"That's tough, especially when they're like two and three," he said of leaving his little ones at home. "Once they get a little older they understand what mommy or daddy does and they're so focused on themselves. But when they're used to you being there, and then at two or three when they're starting to talk, and that attachment and that bond is beginning, and then they're literally standing at the door [asking], 'Where's Daddy going?'
Osbourne, who's mom to a months-old son named Sidney, has found a way around that conundrum. "I can't handle that. That's why he comes everywhere with me," she said of her baby boy.
"I guess If I brought my kids here they'd fill up the whole audience," Cannon joked in response.
Even as she adjusts to the new mom balancing act, Osbourne jumped at the chance to be involved in Beat Shazam.
While Jamie Foxx and his daughter, Corinne, were originally slated to be front and center on the series, Osbourne is filling is as a guest DJ and Cannon is stepping into the elder Foxx's shoes amid the actor's recovery from his recent medical complication.
"You get to deal with everyday people and this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to be on television, potentially playing for a million dollars just based off of your knowledge of music," Cannon said of the appeal of the game show. "It's so much fun, because you're literally changing people's lives."
Season 6 of Beat Shazam premieres Tuesday on Fox. Tune in to Tuesday's episode of Entertainment Tonight for more of ET's interview with Cannon and Osbourne.
RELATED CONTENT:
