This post deals with child loss and might be triggering for some readers.

In an interview for The Shade Room this week, music mogul, comedian and father-of-12 Nick Cannon has shared that Mariah Carey was his "greatest love".

Cannon tells host Thembi that, while the couple split in 2016, he maintains his "remarkable" ex-wife Carey "isn't human; she's a gift from God".

“I was 12 years old with Mariah Carey pictures on my wall, and [she] becomes my wife? And the fact she’s the coolest person I’ve ever met. I get a lot of this delightful disposition from her, like she’s just always happy, always doing for others no matter what’s happening in life.”

It comes as no surprise that Cannon also discussed how, despite kicking a lot of career goals in the entertainment industry, his greatest role is as a father.

The star has welcomed 12 children with six women since the births of his twins, Moroccan and Monroe, with Mariah Carey in 2011.

“Every day I just wake up excited as a father,” he told Peoplelast year.

“I’m so excited about all my kids. Constantly, from every aspect of it. From them getting citizen of the month awards in the first grade to the birth of the new ones.”

His latest arrival in December 2022 was his second child with model Alyssa Scott, Halo Marie Cannon. In November 2022 DJ Abby De La Rosa gave birth to daughter Beautiful Zepplin Cannon, their third child together.

In September he welcomed his third child with Brittany Bell, Rise Messiah Cannon and in the same month, Onyx Ice Cole arrived, his first baby with photographer LaNisha Cole.

Cannon and model Bre Tiesi had a baby boy and his eighth child, Legendary Love in June 2022.

The pregnancy announcement for Legendary came just three months after Cannon announced the passing of his son, five-month-old Zen.

Watch: Carrie launches Beanies 4 Brain Cancer. Post continues below.

Cannon shared a statement on grief in December 2022, 12 months after Zen's death.

"Physically I’m definitely on the mend but Mentally and Spiritually I’m broken," Cannon wrote on Instagram.

"I can’t believe it’s been a year already since the toughest day of my life occurred. Such a painful anniversary. Losing a child has to be the heaviest, most dark and depressive experiences that I will never get over."

Cannon and his then-girlfriend, model Alyssa Scott (who he now shares daughter Halo with), initially thought their son had a sinus problem.

"I always noticed he had a cough and so I wanted to check it out," Cannon said.

"He had this interesting breathing and by the time he was two months I noticed he had this nice sized head too: a Cannon head. We didn’t think anything of it. We thought [the doctor's visit] would be routine."

Sadly, the doctors discovered that Zen had fluid building in his head, later confirming that the child had a malignant brain tumour.

The couple decided that Zen would undergo brain surgery, with the five-month-old getting a shunt to drain the fluid in his brain.

But things took a turn for the worse around Thanksgiving in late November 2021.

"Ultimately, it was cancer in the brain and the tumour began to grow a lot faster. And so we knew that time was..." he said before pausing.

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"This weekend I made a valid effort to spend the most quality time I could spend with Zen. We woke up on Sunday and I was like, 'I feel like I want to go to the water.' We got a chance to go to the ocean."

After the family's final trip to the beach, Cannon was planning to fly back to New York for his daytime show. It was on the way to the airport that Cannon received a phone call that he needed to come home.

Zen passed away later that day.

In sad news, Nick Cannon has announced the passing of his 5 month old son, Zen who passed away from a brain tumor.— We send our love and prayers to Nick and Alyssa Scott during this difficult time 🖤 pic.twitter.com/5nBKWmVNQv

— EBONY MAGAZINE (@EBONYMag)

Amid the tragic experience, Cannon didn't share with anyone that around the time of Zen's passing, Cannon knew Tiesi was pregnant with his child.

Nick Cannon was spotted at a gender reveal party with model Bre Tiesi in matching outfits as they announced the pregnancy news. This comes just months after the artiste lost his five-month-old son to cancer. #tukonews https://t.co/tDOwb15lTG

— TUKO.co.ke | The Heartbeat of Kenya (@Tuko_co_ke)

"So even going through all of that, this was always in the back of my mind, like, what is the right time? How do I share this? No one, we didn't expect Zen to pass away ... All of the news was so unexpected."

Cannon and Tiesi decided to wait and keep Tiesi's pregnancy private from the public, in order to "respect the grieving process. Bre was respectful enough, she held off making our announcements and speaking on social media."

Cannon added: "And it was just one of those things like, you know, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say when I was dealing with Zen or to hold off. Even right now, that it came out yesterday, that wasn't planned to talk about it. We wanted to, you know, hold on as long as we can, but it happened."