Nick Cannon and his fans are mourning an unimaginable loss as his five-month-old son Zen Cannon died of a brain tumour on Tuesday. The American actor and rapper announced the unfortunate incident while hosting The Nick Cannon Show on Tuesday.
He welcomed Zen with model Alyssa Scott in June, breaking the internet at the time. He had become a father of twin children with another woman named Abby De La Rosa a few weeks ahead of Zen's arrival which resulted in the host being trolled endlessly.
However, this time the internet came together to send virtual support to a father who lost his youngest son.
While hosting the show, Nick detailed events from the distant past and revealed that Zen's condition deteriorated quickly after Thanksgiving which was his final weekend on Earth side. In an eight-minute video posted to his Instagram, Cannon reveals the heart-crushing details of his baby's last days before he died.
"Today is a special one y'all for many reasons but it's not gonna be an easy one. I haven't even shared this with anybody, not even the crew," Cannon began. "I had a very tough weekend."
The talk show host said that they took Zen, who was Cannon's seventh child, to the doctor when he was 2 months old after they noticed his head seemed large.
"He had this real interesting breathing and by the time he was two months old I noticed…he had this nice sized head, I called it a Cannon head. We didn't think anything of it, he had a normal Cannon head. But I wanted to take him to the doctor to get the breathing and the sinus thing checked out," he said. "We thought it would be a routine process."
The doctors discovered fluid building up in Zen's head and a malignant tumour that required brain surgery. He subsequently had the surgery and a shunt to drain the fluid from his head.
"We were faithful and hopeful for that time. We carried on, he was still just playing with his brothers and sisters, I embraced every moment," Cannon said. "Zen's mom, Alyssa, was just the strongest woman I've ever seen. Never had an argument, never was angry. Was emotional when she needed to be but always the best mom, and continues to be the best mom..."
Cannon said the tumour developed quickly around Thanksgiving. The host further said his son died on Sunday, December 5 but not before the beach trip where Cannon held him in his arms for the last time.
It all conspired while he was headed to New York for work commitments after the trip but received a call to head back for Zen. The baby passed away shortly after.
"I didn't know how I was gonna handle today but I just really wanted to grieve with my family, people who love you. I didn't want to make it about any pageantry so I kind of went back and forth of what I should do but I was always taught, you go through it you grow through it, you keep pushing," Cannon told his audience. "I'm here to show that I can fight through this, I'm feeling it, I'm vulnerable, I'm open. this is a special show dedicated to my beautiful son Zen."
Scott gave birth to Zen nine days after Cannon welcomed twins Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir with Abby De La Rosa on June 14.
Image Source: Instagram/nickcannon/itsalyssaemm