A few years ago, I wrote a story titled “The Nick Cannon Baby-Making Saga Is Not Funny.” In it, I discussed the concerns I had as a parent watching the actor, TV personality, and entrepreneur father have so many children with multiple women. I still obviously understand that it’s his business, and his right. However, I felt, then and now, that there was no way he could be present in the way he would want and need to be for all of those children. At the time of writing, he was a father of seven, with three more kids on the way. As of 2025, he has had 12 children, and he recently admitted that he is indeed stretched thin.
“Being a father of multiple kids, it’s always the biggest guilt on me is that I don’t get to spend enough time with all my children,” he said while visiting The Checkup with Dr. David Agus. “One ’cause I’m constantly working and two because I’m just spread thin.” Cannon also revealed that he started having kids in overdrive after his divorce from Mariah Carey as a trauma response, and that he was “careless” at times.
“It wasn’t like I was acting out. It was more of being careless, being frivolous with my process because I could do it,” he told The Breakfast Club in September. “Because I had the money. Because I had the access to whoever and however I wanted to move.”
Being a parent of more than one child will always be a doozy. At the time I wrote that story, I was preparing for my second, and it’s incredibly difficult to be as present as you’d like to be for even two children with completely different needs and personalities. But you try. And you’re mindful, hence why I’ve stopped at two. My life is not in the proper place to be a mother of three, four and so and so forth. And that mindfulness, I believe, is what has kept so many parents of today from having the same number of kids as those before us.
So I wasn’t looking to shame Cannon, but to note that for the sake of the long-term well-being of his children, continuing to have many across different households does them a disadvantage when you can’t consistently provide the presence they need, and therefore, create instability for them. It’s not being mindful.
At the time that I wrote that story, Cardi B had just two children: Kulture and Wave, whom she shares with rapper and then-husband Offset. Now, she’s expecting her fourth. She welcomed her daughter Blossom in September 2024, as her marriage had fully come apart at the seams and as she was seeking a divorce. She is currently awaiting the birth of a fourth child, this time with her boyfriend, New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
There have been a lot of thoughts about this, mainly because she’s not fully divorced from Offset, which she alleges is because he wants her to agree to specific financial responsibilities before he will sign the papers, and from the outside in, it appears to people that she may not have been with Diggs for that long. In addition to that, Diggs is alleged to have welcomed a few children of his own by multiple women recently. Some have said the situation is unseemly, others are happy for her, and a few, like podcast personality Crissle West, have taken aim at her character, work ethic, and parenting.
“It’s not just money. You also need parents who are very mindful and deliberate about bringing you into the world and choosing to guide you into adulthood,” West said on the “Baby Dramatics” episode of The Read. “That is how we raise decent, good people.
“I just don’t understand being so cavalier about creating a new life and then being like, ‘I’m so proud of myself. I’m working so hard, and I’m doing all this while I’m making a baby.’ That was optional. You did not have to f–king make a baby right now! Only God knows why you did that stupid sh-t!”
When confronted with all the commentary aimed her way following the episode, West didn’t back down, which may have kick-started a conversation about how Cardi compares to other figures who are criticized for their parenting choices. That includes Cannon.
“I’ve said the same thing about Cam Newton, Nick Cannon,” West, who studied to become a therapist but doesn’t presently practice, stated on TikTok. “I’m very consistent when it comes to kids. I don’t play about kids. That is really something that got solidified in the pursuit of my degree. I learned a lot about child development and child psychology, and I feel more strongly now than ever that y’all need to be doing right by these kids and not deliberately bringing them into chaos and confusion.”
While some of the things I’d heard from West felt more harsh than necessary, particularly the mommy makeover comment, which Cardi B took special offense to, The Read is known for giving it to you as colorfully as possible when it comes to pop culture, hence the name. And I must say that some points were made.
Cardi noted that she is nothing like Cannon, for the record.
“I don’t get in Nick Cannon’s business, but let me tell you something, all my kids live in the same house, and they are raised by a person, and that’s me,” she said this week. “You can’t compare me to Nick Cannon. I don’t got 12 different baby daddies. I got three kids with one baby dad. And I’m gonna have a new baby with another man.”
Do I personally think Cardi is in the same boat as Cannon? Newton? That’s tough.
There are some similarities. The women with whom these men had babies were often people they were dating, too, even if the relationships were unconventional. Cannon still rotates between the mothers of his children, some more than others. Newton had four with his longtime girlfriend, Kia Proctor, and raised her oldest daughter before moving on to relationships with two other women, with whom he also welcomed kids. That includes his latest partner, Jasmin Brown, with whom he now shares two kids. Cardi had multiple children within her marriage but moved on when she felt the relationship had grown too toxic. She has decided to conceive with a new partner she feels is special. Newton cheated on Proctor, who became fed up, and that’s why that household didn’t stand. And Cannon…again, he’s rotating, I guess, but none of the mothers of his children can really claim him as their own. That’s why the fellas look more reckless in their choices.
But she did have her children in a marriage that had so many twists and turns, split announcements, cheating allegations against him, and brought her a lot of pain. Cardi has talked about how she’s found herself taking care of the kids’ financial needs on her own since their breakup, and alleged that he’s missed planned visits with them. So have her children, though created in holy matrimony, also been brought into a chaotic situation, even unintentionally?
That said, the fact remains that mothers aren’t allowed to just have babies and leave them with the dads so they can go out and do it all over again with another sexual partner. What sets her apart is her presence, regardless of the circumstances. Perhaps she thought, during brighter moments in her marriage, that having more children would bring them closer together. That in times when they were happy, more kids made sense. She knew that she could afford to care for them and that she would always come home to them. And it’s true that more often than not, her children are seen with her. She shares videos with them all, and has her family by her side in caring for them. The children don’t seem to go without anything, including their mother’s affection, though time for any working parent is always hard to disperse evenly. You can live with your children and still miss out on more than you’d like to. But she’s there, her kids are with her, and they seem happy. So for that alone, it puts her in a different category. Call me biased.
Nevertheless, everyone could use a reminder that it does in fact take more than money to raise healthy, content kids. Making sure they have clothes on their back, food in their stomachs, and a roof over their head is a parent’s responsibility, but being able to be there for the small and big moments, to create a loving and peaceful environment, and to provide the emotional support that goes the distance is just as integral in the experience. While public discourse on your choices can go in one ear and out the other, no one, famous man or woman included, should be exempt from being mindful about how their choices will benefit or do a disservice to their children.