Nick Cannon is “healing” after being diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder.
The Masked Singer host, 44, first revealed his condition in an in-depth conversation with Dr. Cheyenne Bryant on the November 8 episode of his “Counsel Culture” podcast. At the time, Cannon said he had been “clinically diagnosed” with the disorder.
Speaking to People earlier this week, Cannon got candid about how his condition affects him.
“I still don’t understand it all the way, but I kind of always wanted to get tested for it. I did a bunch of tests,” the father of 12 said in an interview published Thursday, November 28.
He continued, “I’ve been diagnosed with ADHD. Even as a kid it was dyslexia, but just knowing that I’m just a neurodivergent individual, I kind of always knew.”
On the “Culture Counsel” podcast earlier this month, Cannon said he identified with nearly all the “markers” for narcissistic personality disorder. He told People that he is accepting of his diagnosis and is working to better himself.
“I feel like there’s so many labels out there, but it’s like, to be able to embrace it and say, ‘Look, I’m healing. I need help. Show me,’” he said. “I just embrace mental health and therapy in such a strong way. To be able to say I’m an example for others, but also be healing during the self-process works too.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, narcissistic personality disorder is when “people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance.” It can affect one’s work, relationships and finances, per the Mayo Clinic.
“I’ve taken all the power away from the term narcissism ’cause I’ve researched it and I understand it,” Cannon said on the “Culture Counsel” podcast. “Call me whatever you want… now if I didn’t know what it was, then I have issue with it.”
Last month, Cannon opened up about his insecurities while married to Mariah Carey.
The former couple — who share twins Moroccan and Monroe, 13 — were married from 2008 until they finalized their divorce in 2016 (though they separated in 2014), and according to Cannon, 44, he struggled to live in the shadow of Carey’s superstar fame.
“I didn’t actually really care what the world thought,” Cannon said of public perception of his marriage at the time during an October appearance on the “Ray Daniels Presents” podcast. “But going to myself, that pressure of, ‘Who am I?’ I got married in my 20s to the biggest star in the world.”
Cannon continued, “My trajectory was [down] here and she’s already in a different stratosphere. I would lay up at night thinking, ‘Is this who I am? Am I Mariah’s man? Is that what my life is supposed to be?’”
The Wild ‘n Out host said that he questioned whether he was really fulfilling his personal ambitions at the time, though he admitted that he “got really comfortable” with the lifestyle his marriage afforded him.
“She got islands and I was waking up at noon and people bringing me steaks on a platter. But I’m like, ‘This ain’t the hustle,’” Cannon explained. “And then when you have children … your manship is like, ‘Wait, I’m carrying a purse, the diaper bag, I’m standing on the corner.’ She’s rocking being all the alpha that she is.”
“I’m main character,” he shared. “I was getting mad at myself. It was like muscle atrophy. I had a gut. It was like, ‘I’m not being the dude God put me on this earth to be.’”
