Nick Cannon Says Marriage To ‘Alpha’ Mariah Carey Challenged His Manhood

Nick Cannon has admitted to feeling insecure during his marriage to pop star Mariah Carey.

The comedian, 44, recently appeared on the Ray Daniels Presents podcast, and discussed the “pressure” of being married to Carey. The two were married in 2008 and share two children, Moroccan and Monroe. The ex-couple separated in 2014 and divorced in 2016.

“I didn’t actually really care what what the world thought,” Cannon said about his relationship. “But going to myself, that pressure of, ‘Who am I?’ I got married in my 20s to the biggest star in the world.”

“My trajectory was [down] here,” he continued. “I would lay up at night thinking, ‘Is this who I am? Am I Mariah’s man? Is that what my life is supposed to be?”

Cannon said that Carey’s success resulted in him getting “comfortable” with a certain lifestyle, but that his fears heightened after the arrival of their twins in 2011.

“And then when you have children… your manship is like, ‘Wait, I’m carrying a purse, the diaper bag, I’m standing on the corner.’ She’s rocking being all the alpha that she is.” Cannon said he believed that Carey deserved someone who could be there for her but that he is “not that dude.”

Following his split from Carey, Cannon welcomed 10 other children with five different women. In June, he insured his gonads for $10 million.

Carey opened up about her relationship with her ex-husband in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.

“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 wrote.