Nick Cannon, 41, revealed on his daytime show Nick Cannon Show that his youngest child born on June 23, Zen Scott Cannon, passed away. Cannon fathered Zen, his seventh child, with model Alyssa Scott.
"Because with the transition of my youngest son Zen, I felt like it was important to talk to someone who knows how difficult it is to lose a child, who just has great counsel. Over the weekend I lost my youngest son to a condition called hydrocephalus that is pretty much a malignant, midline brain tumor—brain cancer. So I invited my friend, my therapist to talk about love and loss,” Cannon said.
He then introduced and thanked Dr. Laura Berman, who also lost her 16-year-old son, for being a shoulder he could lean on through his grief.
Hydrocephalus is "the buildup of fluid in the cavities (ventricles) deep within the brain," according to The Mayo Clinic. It can affect anyone at any age but it commonly occurs among infants and adults over the age of 60.
"I always noticed he had a cough and so I wanted to check it out. He had this interesting breathing and by the time he was two months, I noticed he had this nice sized head too — a Cannon head. We didn’t think anything of it. But I wanted to take him to the doctor for his sinus and breathing. We thought it would be routine," Cannon said, Entertainment Tonight reported.
Zen underwent brain surgery to drain the fluid build-up but the outlook was still dismal especially around the Thanksgiving holiday.
"This weekend I made an effort to spend the most quality time with Zen. We woke up on Sunday and went to the ocean with him and Alyssa and then I had to fly back to New York for the show. I got a call on my way to the airport to head back to Zen," he said tearfully.
"You can't heal until you feel," Cannon told his audience as he proclaimed the episode a "celebration of life" for Zen.
Cannon is taking a bereavement leave of absence from his show to mourn his child. He was initially scheduled to tape two shows on Monday, including a live show but canceled on Sunday. Instead, a pre-taped episode aired on Monday.
In June 2021, he rounded out his family with the births of three children by two different women; DJ and entrepreneur Abby De La Rosa had twin sons, Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir, and Scott delivered Zen in June, New York Daily News reported.
