By Tamlyn Canham
American comedian Nick Cannon has announced the tragic passing of his five-month-old son, Zen.
Nick revealed the news on his daytime talk show on Tuesday. Zen is his seventh and youngest son. Nick and model Alyssa Scott welcomed their son on June 23. Zen died recently after being diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his head.
“It was cancer in the brain, and the tumor began to grow a lot faster,” Nick said on the show.
The 41-year-old says they nicknamed their son ‘Z-Chillin’ because he was always smiling. Nick says he noticed that his son appeared to have a sinus problem.
“He always had this real interesting breathing… by the time he was two months old I noticed…. he’s got like a nice-sized head. I call it a Cannon head. All my kids got really nice round heads,” he joked. “We didn’t think anything about it.”
ALSO READ: Mona Monyane remembers late daughter: ‘I love you forever’

Nick says they decided to take him to the doctor to check out his sinus. They later found out that fluid was building up inside of Zen’s head, which was causing his head to enlarge.
They learned that he had a malignant tumor.
“And so immediately we had to have surgery. It was brain surgery and we put a shunt in his head and we were hoping for the best.”
Things took a turn for the worse around Thanksgiving. Nick says he was able to spend his last moments with his son on Sunday.
He held his son for the last time on Sunday after a trip to the beach with Alyssa. He says they got to watch the sunrise and sunset together. Nick praised Alyssa for her strength during the difficult period.
“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.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JcCc7ZivXY
Nick’s big family
Nick says he is thankful Zen got to spend time with his brothers and sisters during his short time on earth. He shared a picture of Zen with his eldest children, twins Monroe and Moroccan.
He shares the twins with Mariah Carey.
Nick made headlines earlier this year when it was revealed that he had four children from three different women in the space of six months. He joked that he did it “on purpose”.
He welcomed his second child with Miss Arizona USA 2010, Brittany Bell, in December 2020. They named their daughter Powerful Queen.
Brittany gave birth to their first child together, Golden, in 2017.
Nick and Abby de la Rosa welcomed twins, Zion and Zillion, in June.
That same month Zen was born.



