The 41-year-old dad of seven, with more on the way this year, appeared in a YouTube Live interview.
Nick Cannon is doubling down on his views on monogamy.
The 41-year-old dad of seven, with more on the way this year, appeared in a YouTube Live interview with R&B duo DVSN and sex therapist Dr. Tammy Nelson to discuss the concept of "open monogamy" and the state of romantic relationships in the current age. Nelson, whose book is titled Open Monogamy, describes the arrangement as having "a primary or central partner, but you have a flexible and fluid relationship agreement."
"I've practiced monogamy, I've been a cheater, I've been toxic," Cannon discloses, adding that today he is just trying to "be the best self I can possibly be and be the best father I can possibly be."
"It all starts with honesty," he continues, noting that his own romantic relationships tend to include "contingencies based off of what allows me to be the best me I can possibly be."
"It's really just surface, basic stuff," he says. "One of my therapists coined what I do as consensual non-monogamy. Because to even pretend like I'm in a monogamous relationship, that would be misleading. Because, as we know, monogamy defines one thing -- and people like to classify what I do as polyamory or polygamy, but even that, I always say to define me is to confine me."
Cannon has seven children with four women: 11-year-old twins, Monroe and Moroccan, with Mariah Carey; Golden "Sagon," 5, and Powerful Queen, 1, with Brittany Bell; 1-year-old twins, Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, with Abby De La Rosa; and Zen, who died in December at 5 months old, with Alyssa Scott.
In an interview with ET last week, Cannon set the over/under on three when it comes to how many kids he'll have by the end of this year alone. "You would be safe to bet on three [more children] in 2022," he teased, playing coy on the exact number.
The rapper-comedian is confirmed to be expecting his eighth child with Bre Tiesi. Meanwhile, the mother of one of his set of twins, De La Rosa, is currently pregnant but has yet to confirm who is the father.
In his open dialogue with Dr. Nelson, Cannon is asked point-blank if he would be willing to be with a woman who "has the same amount of kids or baby fathers" as he does.
"My lifestyle only merits me to respect someone," he says. "I would just be a hypocrite to the whole thing. Now, am I going to say I like it? Would I choose that? We also don't really choose who we love or where our emotions take us."
Cannon notes that he has been involved with "women who have four, five, six children in a household at the same time."
He continues, "And it's been some of the most lucrative and strong friendships and passionate relationships that I've ever had, because … I would never judge someone based off of the amount of children they had. Especially when they're a great parent."
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