Nick Cannon casually takes the ALS ice bucket challenge naked, confirms separation from wife Mariah Carey

Just hours earlier, Cannon hit the headlines for an altogether less altruistic reasons

Mariah Carey and her husband Nick Cannon have written a Christmas children's book featuring their twins Roc and Roe's take on a popular carol (Getty Images)

Male followers of Nick Cannon’s YouTube account were no doubt recoiling in horror as they watched the comedian take on the ice bucket challenge almost completely naked.

“Don’t mind the shrinkage…” he said, as he ducked off screen post-dousing, having nominated Howard Stern, Howie Mandel and Shaquille O'Neal to take it on in the next 24 hours to raise money for ALS.

But just hours earlier, Cannon hit the headlines for an altogether less altruistic reason.

“There is trouble in paradise,” Cannon told The Insider, confirming that he has indeed separated from his wife, Mariah Carey. Just in case you care.

“We have been living in separate houses for a few months.”

He went on to dismiss claims that infidelity lead to their break-up, and said that their ludicrously named twins Monroe and Moroccan were their “main focus”.

The couple apparently separated back in May and have been busy finalising divorce settlements and custody agreements, as well as dividing their assets.

A number of sources pointed towards a revealing radio interview Cannon gave in March this year as reason for the split. In it, he was asked about Lindsay Lohan’s legendary sex list and whether he would ever reveal his own.

“Are you kidding me? This is L.A,” he perhaps unwisely told the host. “That's the whole purpose of it, you have sex with actresses, singers, models.”

Asked if he could name just five, he said: “That's easy. OK, Mariah Carey, Christina Milian, Nicole Scherzinger, Selita Ebanks, oh, Kim Kardashian.”

Elaborating further on the latter name, who married Kanye West earlier this year, he said: “You just forgot (about her) because there have been a lot of people since me.”

He attempted to patch things up a week later in another radio interview, in which he overshared about his and Carey’s sex life.

“She doesn’t even know who Kim Kardashian is. She doesn’t pay attention to that,” he said.

“She doesn’t care when I talk about our sex life because our sex life is amazing.”