Nick Cannon has felt majorly insecure for one big reason.
And it might not be what you expect.
Though he has had many women (and many children) since their time together, Nick Cannon still misses Mariah Carey.
Thinking back, he’s opening up about the insecurities that plagued him while he was with his most famous, most successful ex.
What made Nick Cannon feel insecure?
On Thursday, October 24, Nick Cannon appeared on the Ray Daniels Presents podcast. Among other topics, he delved into his marriage to Mariah Carey in 2008 — and how this led to him questioning where he stood in the world.
“I didn’t actually really care what the world thought because the perception, you know, that is what it is,” he reflected.
“People are going to love you one day, hate you the next day,” Nick Cannon then characterized.
“I could care less about that,” Nick Cannon added before delving into what left him feeling insecure.
“But going to myself with that pressure of, ‘Who am I?’” he added.
“I got married in my 20s, you know what I mean? To the biggest star in the world,” Nick Cannon pointed out. Perhaps 28 is a little young for marriage, but very young to experience the spotlight by association with your spouse.
Who WOULDN’T feel insecure if they were Nick Cannon married to Mariah Carey?
“My trajectory was here,” Nick Cannon acknowledged on the podcast, gesturing to show his relative lack of fame and success compared to Mariah Carey. “And then hers — she’s already in a different stratosphere.”
During the podcast episode, he admitted that he struggled to retain his own identity beyond the relationship.
He did admit that he became “comfortable” during the marriage. “She’s got islands,” Nick Cannon characterized, “and I’m waking up at noon and people bringing me steaks on a platter.”
“I would lay up at night thinking, like, ‘Is is this who I am? Am I Mariah’s man? Is that what my life is supposed to be?’” Nick Cannon recalled. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”
However, his conceptions of masculinity felt threatened. He admitted that he also struggled with the “hierarchy” of their family, particularly after they welcomed Moroccan and Mornroe in 2011.
“I’m carrying a purse, the diaper bag and, you know, I’m standing on the corner like, ‘Wait.’ She’s rocking being the alpha,” Nick Cannon described.
‘She deserves it’
When the podcast host pointed out that Mariah Carey has more than earned her aforementioned “alpha” status, Nick Cannon acknowledged that it was true.
“I believe she needs a dude like that. I’m just not that dude,” he confessed.
Knowing that you’re insecure is the first step to fixing it. Or, in Nick Cannon’s case, knowing that he’s insecure was apparently part of his process of moving on from that marriage to get up to paternal mischief as he has in recent years. To each their own?