Nick Cannon praises ‘not human’ ex-wife Mariah Carey: ‘She’s a gift from God’

The Grammy winner and the TV personality were married from 2008 until their divorce in 2016

Nick Cannon is still gushing over his ex-wife Mariah Carey despite their divorce seven years ago.

The Wild N’ Out host opened up about his eight-year relationship with Carey and his lasting love for the Grammy winner in an interview with The Shade Room on 17 March.

“Like the greatest? I mean, I always talk about that,” Cannon said when asked who is the love of his life. “Then, it goes viral and all her fans get mad at me.”

“I was 12 years old with Mariah Carey pictures on my wall, and that becomes my wife. And the fact that she’s the coolest person I ever met.”

The father of 12 wasn’t done heaping praise on his ex-wife, with whom he shares 11-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe. “She’s just always happy, always doing for others,” he said. “No matter what’s happening in life. I’m like, ‘Wow, a person can really operate like that and don’t allow negative energy into their space.’”

He added: “When I found that out, about how remarkable she was, that woman is not human. She’s a gift from God.”

Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey first sparked relationship rumours in 2008 when the singer had cast the Nickelodeon alum as her love interest in the “Bye Bye” music video. Later that year, the pair surprised fans when they tied the knot after dating for less than two months.

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon attend Nickelodeon's 2018 Kids' Choice Awards with twins Moroccan and Monroe (Getty Images)

In December 2010, the couple announced they were expecting twins. Their son, Moroccan Scott, and daughter, Monroe, were born in April 2011. Just three years later, the pair announced they were separating and finalised their divorce in November 2016.

In her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, the singer opened up about her divorce from Cannon. “Honestly, I think Nick and I could have worked it out between the two of us, but egos and emotions got inflamed (which can translate into many billable lawyer hours, and ultimately it did),” she wrote in the book, per People. “It was tough. We both wanted to make sure everything was cool for our family. We will always be family, and we make it work.”

Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey with their children at the 2017 Kids' Choice Awards in Los Angeles, California (Getty Images)

Since then, the America’s Got Talent host has gone on to welcome ten more children: Rise, five months, Powerful, two, and Golden, six, with Brittany Bell;  Beautiful, three months, and Zion and Zillion, both one, with Abby De La Rosa; Halo, two months, and the late Zen with Alyssa Scott; Legendary, seven months, with Bre Tiesi; Onyx, five months, with LaNisha Cole.

Despite ending their romance, Cannon has previously claimed that he will “never have a love” like he did with the “Fantasy” singer. During an appearance on The Hot Tee Talk Show last July, Cannon said about Carey: “That’s my fantasy love. That’s somebody I will always love. I will never have a love like I had with Mariah.”

“If I had the opportunity to, if it could be the way that it was, I’m there,” he said.