Nick Cannon is opening up about the choices that led him to become a father of 12.
The Masked Singer host, 44, recently joined The Breakfast Club radio show, where he reflected on how his unique journey into fatherhood was shaped by his past.
Cannon explained that having children the way he did was tied to unhealed trauma and the freedom his circumstances allowed.
"It wasn't like I was acting out. It was more of being careless, being frivolous with my process because I could do it, because I had the money [and] because I had the access to whoever and however I wanted to move," he said.
"Then, obviously, life happens as well, so it wasn't like 'Oh, I'm gonna go have 12 kids.' It was more about like, 'Yo, I'm gonna just live life and have fun and whatever happens happens. I can handle it.'"
Now approaching 45, Cannon admitted that with more reflection, things might have played out differently.
"Being almost 45 now, I could sit back and like, yeah, if I would have thought the process through a little bit more and took time to actually do the inner work," he said.
"Things might have been a little different in certain scenarios."
When asked by host Charlamagne tha God if inner healing might have changed the number of children he has, Cannon was unsure.
"I don't know, because I've always said this, every child that I had was made out of love and there were strong relationships," he shared.
Still, Cannon acknowledged that moving quickly after his divorce may not have been the healthiest approach.
"If I would have did the work [and] the healing after getting divorced, I probably would have took my time in a lot other scenarios," he said.
"For whatever reason I thought that was the answer a lot of times, like 'Oh, I'm gonna figure it out over here.' Now, you're leaving trauma every step of the way instead of fixing it from its origin."
Cannon is a father to twins Moroccan and Monroe with ex-wife Mariah Carey; sons Golden Sagon and Rise Messiah and daughter Powerful Queen with Brittany Bell; twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir and daughter Beautiful Zeppelin with Abby De La Rosa; son Legendary Love with Bre Tiesi; and daughter Onyx Ice Cole with LaNisha Cole.
He also shares two children with Alyssa Scott, daughter Halo Marie and son Zen, who passed away at five months old in 2021 after a brain cancer diagnosis.
As for whether more children are in his future, Cannon said earlier this year that he’s putting family expansion on pause.
Speaking to PEOPLE in March, he explained that he’s "pressing hold" on welcoming any more kids for now. While he isn’t ruling it out completely, he noted he won’t be adding to his family any time soon.