Nick Cannon calls out 'deadbeat dad' claims as he shares how much money he makes in a year

Hip Hop Health: Mind Over Music
Hip Hop Health: Mind Over Music / Shareif Ziyadat/GettyImages

Nick Cannon is firing back at those criticizing his big family tree.

The Wild ‘N Out host—who is dad to 12 kids with six different women—recently cleared the air about his parenting reality, saying that he's able to emotionally and financially support his large clan.

"I've been villainized," Cannon told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published May 7. "I hear all the time: ‘You can't be present for all those children.' So therefore I get this deadbeat dad title."

And while he acknowledges that "the narrative is, ‘He has a bunch of kids," Cannon said, "I'm really at a place now where I don't care what people know. I'd rather just operate. It's more about really being a good person instead of telling people you're a good person."

As for why he wanted to have so many children, Cannon said it came from a place of making his partners happy after they expressed their desires to have kids soon.

"A lot of them are in the same age group," he said. "And I just wanted to give them what they desired. I kept saying, ‘I can handle it.'"

According to Celebrity Net Worth, the actor and television host who has a net worth of $50 million, and an annual salary of $20 million.