Nick Cannon Opens Up About His Immense Guilt Following The Death Of His Son

Nick Cannon is a man of many trades — he is a comedian, actor, music artist, and television presenter, known for hosting "The Masked Singer" and "Wild 'N Out." He is also a huge family man and has a brood of children, ranging from the ages of 10 to not yet born. On January 31, Cannon announced that he and model Bre Tiesi were expecting their first child together (and his eighth) on his talk show, "The Nick Cannon Show," as per People. He mentioned how much he loves each one of his children and how excited he is to welcome another baby boy. Cannon also explained that he waited to go public with the news after his son, Zen, born to singer Alyssa Scott, died of a brain tumor in December 2021. He was torn about when to reveal the news given the unexpectedness of Zen's death.

The "America's Got Talent" host also used his talk show to announce the devastating news of his son's death, as per Page Six. Cannon and Scott noticed that Zen had an abnormally large head when he was around 2 months old and took him to the doctor to get checked out. The growth turned out to be excess fluid build-up, caused by a malignant tumor. Zen died a few months later at just 5 months old. Since then, Cannon has been open and honest about the grieving process and his feelings around Zen's death, both on his talk show and in interviews.

In a February 16 interview with Dr. Laura Berman on her podcast, "The Language of Love," Nick Cannon opened up about losing his son, Zen, according to Page Six. He revealed that there is "one thing that keeps [him] up at night," which is a "heavy" sensation of guilt for not having spent more time with Zen before he died. "I didn't get to spend time — like I really wanted to — with Zen," Cannon shared, due to his busy work schedule and the fact that Zen was only a handful of months old when he died. The one consolation he has is that during Zen's final days, Cannon was right there alongside him and helped him pass on when the time came. He added that he feels guilty about not spending as much time as he'd like with the rest of his children, but admitted, "At least I know that the harder that I work then it makes the guilt easier to deal with."

Ahead of Valentine's Day, Zen's mother, Alyssa Scott, took to Instagram to post an adorable photo reel of Zen alongside a heartbreaking tribute in which she also expressed her regrets. She wrote, "If I had one wish it would be to hold you," and added that although he never grew old enough to be able to tell her he loved her, she feels his love in his absence and still sees him in "everything beautiful."