Mariah Carey Didn’t Want to Have Children Before Marrying Nick Cannon
Mariah Carey shares two children with her ex-husband Nick Cannon. But motherhood was an experience she thought she’d never have until she was with Cannon.
Mariah Carey knew from an early age that she didn’t want kids
Cannon opened up Carey to a lot of new possibilities when they were together. The two started dating in 2008, and married each other later that same year. This was a massive change for Carey at the time, who hadn’t been married since 1998. She wedded music executive Tommy Mottola in 1993. The debacle of her first marriage discouraged Carey from ever walking down the aisle again until Cannon came along.
“Initially I was afraid of the concept of marriage, but this is a different situation and a different time in my life,” Carey once said on an interview with 20/20 (via The Hollywood Reporter).
After their marriage, Cannon also opened Carey up to the possibility of having kids. Carey gave birth to twins in 2011, something she thought from an early age she’d never do.
“I never thought I was going to have kids,” Carey once told Entertainment Tonight (via FemaleFirst). I remember being a little girl and going ‘I don’t think I’m going to have babies when I grow up’. For a while I was probably convinced of that and I just realised things change and that’s what happens…[The twins] give me a reason to live.”
How Mariah Carey feels about Nick Cannon having 12 kids
Becoming parents was new to both Carey and Cannon when they had the twins. After their divorce, however, the pair took different approaches to parenthood. Carey hasn’t had any more kids since giving birth to the twins. Meanwhile, Cannon went on to father 10 more children with several different girlfriends. Speaking on The Jason Lee Podcast, Cannon revealed how Carey reacted to his growing family.
“She’s like, ‘As long as you don’t bring none of that bullshit to the Manor of Carey.’ Like, she lives in her own world. Nothing can infiltrate that stuff. When we talk daily, she’s just checking on my spirit,” Cannon said.
“She high frequency, man,” Cannon said. “She always asks me, ‘You aight? You good? How you doing? You handling it all?’”
Nick Cannon felt remaining friends with Mariah Carey was the best outcome for their children
Carey and Cannon officially ended their marriage in 2016. The reason for their split seems to be a culmination of issues that all came to an unavoidable head. In her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, Carey felt they might’ve been able to save their marriage at a point. But they couldn’t help get in each other’s way.
“Honestly, I think Nick and I could have worked it out between the two of us, but egos and emotions got inflamed (which can translate into many billable lawyer hours, and ultimately it did). It was tough,” she said.
Given how close and supportive the two remained, however, Canon was asked if there was any chance of reconciliation between the two. But Cannon felt that ship has long since sailed, and that they were both in completely different places in their lives.
“I never experienced that level of love from everyone,” Cannon said. “[But] that was over a decade ago. We are the best of friends now. She’s in a relationship, and she’s happy. I don’t want to disturb that. For our children, which is the best thing and the thing that we focus on, this scenario is a lot healthier for all of us.”
