Rest in peace. Nick Cannon and Alyssa Scott’s 5-month-old son, Zen, has died from a brain tumor.
The Nick Cannon Show host, 41, tearfully announced his baby boy’s passing on the Tuesday, December 7, episode of his talk show, noting that the little one’s condition worsened around Thanksgiving. The former Nickelodeon star held his son for the last time during a trip to see the ocean in California on Sunday, December 5.
The Masked Singer host noted that his and the 28-year-old model’s son went to the doctor for what was believed to be a sinus issue when he was 2 months old. Fluid was building up in his head, and the infant’s brain tumor required immediate surgery.
The Wild ’N Out stars welcomed their newborn in June. Zen was Cannon’s seventh child as he also shares twins Morocco and Monroe, 10, with Mariah Carey, son Golden, 4, and daughter Powerful, 11 months, with Brittany Bell, and twins Zillion and Zion, 5 months, with Abby De La Rosa.
Scott has not addressed Zen’s death but did post Instagram Story videos of the little one on Tuesday. “Can you say, ‘Good morning, Daddy?'” she asked her baby boy in touching footage as he cooed. “Say, ‘Bye-bye, Daddy.’ Wave bye-bye.”
The Texas native, who also has a daughter from a previous relationship, has been “amazing” during the tragedy, Cannon gushed on Tuesday.
“[She’s] the strongest woman I’ve ever seen,” the California native said on his show. “We never had an argument. She was emotional when she needed to be but always was the best mom and continues to be the best mom.”
He reflected his late child’s personality, saying, “He was the most loving. We called him Z Chilling. He was always smiling. He had the most beautiful spirit.” Cannon subsequently dedicated the episode to Zen.
Last month, the All That alum told Dr. Mehmet Oz that he was on the fence about expanding his family further.
“I don’t know how I’ll feel in five years,” Cannon said during the November interview. “When people say, ‘Are you going to have more kids?’ that’s a difficult question to ask unless I did have something like a vasectomy. Because I don’t know if I’m going to find love again. I don’t know how deep I’ll go again. I don’t know. You never understand what the universe is going to present to you.”
