Nick Cannon knows he scored big time when he married pop music superstar Mariah Carey in April 2008, after a whirlwind few weeks of dating. She was and still is one of the biggest celebrities in the world. While Nick had tasted Hollywood success in a few films including 2002’s Drumline and 2005’s Underclassmen, in addition to creating and hosting MTV’s popular comic improv show Wild ‘N Out, he was nowhere near her level of fame. But Nick is such a go-getter that what he wants, he gets. “I live my faith. I like speaking things into existence. I mean, I wanted to marry Mariah Carey since I was 12 years old,” he tells our sister site Variety in a new in-depth interview.
During their union, the 39-year-old says it was all about what was best for Mimi. “My ego outside the house was grand but in the house it was healthy. I was there to be in support of whatever she wanted to do,” Nick reveals about their marriage. “I mean, it’s Mariah Carey. How am I supposed to be? She’s one of the most talented women to ever [sic] this planet. I can’t hold a candle to that woman.”
Even today with his super busy career as the host of Fox’s The Masked Singer, a daily five-hour morning radio show, a syndicated daytime talk show coming in Sept. 2020, and successful production company that employs 25 people, Nick knows he’ll never reach the level of fame that Mariah has solidified in her 30 years as a pop diva. And that’s perfectly okay with him.
“I’m not famous. I’ve been around real famous people. My wife was famous,” Nick says. “People don’t think of me as famous. I want to be the guy that everybody wants to have a drink with and welcome to their house. I want to be that guy as opposed to the one that everybody’s in awe of. It’s an energy thing that I see as a superpower.”
Allowing Mariah to shine as the superstar that she is is what made their six years of wedded happiness a success. “I always used to say it worked so well because it was a healthy balance,” Nick explains. “I had no problem falling back. It was never a competition with me. It was like, ‘I’ll turn mine off so she can turn hers on.’ I was comfortable in myself and who I was.”
Even when Nick and Mariah married in an intimate ceremony after just weeks of dating, he says they were both on the same page about how things would go. “We were both at this place where relationships really aren’t our thing but we like each other,” Nick recalls. “We talked everything out. What if this and what if that. We talked about how much fun it would be if we just got married three weeks into knowing each other. It was more that whimsical fantasy idea of let’s have as much fun as we possibly can and when it no longer feels like fun, when it feels like a task and a job, then we should amicably be able to move on.”
The couple went on to welcome their now nine-year-old fraternal twins Moroccan and Monroe in 2011, and three years later the pair decided to “move on.” Nick and Mariah separated in 2014, before divorcing in 2016. But they’re still on great terms thanks to co-parenting. “It just made us say ‘Let’s co-exist for the betterment of our children.’ We’re doing whatever we can to make sure their upbringing is as healthy as can possibly be and that we’re as healthy as we can possibly be. And that’s where we are to this day,” he admits.