Nick Cannon's 5-Month-Old Son Zen Dies From Brain Tumor

Nick Cannon announces in heartbreaking segment on his show that his youngest son Zen has passed away

TV host Nick Cannon announced Tuesday, December 7, 2021 that his 5-month-old son Zen, whom he welcomed in June 2021 with Alyssa Scott, died of a brain tumor over the weekend. Cannon shared the tragic news on his daytime talk show Nick Cannon, breaking down in tears during the 10-minute announcement.

“Over the weekend I lost my youngest son to a condition called hydrocephalus that is pretty much a malignant, midline brain tumor — brain cancer,” Cannon shared during the heartbreaking segment.

Hydrocephalus is a condition associated with a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in or around the brain. As was the case with Cannon’s son Zen, it is treated with a shunt, a device that allows the pressure in the brain to normalize by draining the fluid into the abdominal cavity, where the fluid can be reabsorbed.

Cannon shared that he suspected something was wrong a couple months after Zen was born when he noticed that Zen had what appeared to be sinus congestion and a large head.

“I always noticed he had a cough and so I wanted to check it out,” he said. “He had this real interesting breathing and by the time he was two months old I noticed [that] he had this nice sized head too — I called it a Cannon head. We didn’t think anything about it. But I wanted to take him to the doctor for his sinus and breathing. We thought it would be routine.”

After the checkup, it was revealed that Zen’s head size was caused by the fluid buildup in the brain and Zen underwent emergency surgery over the summer. Unfortunately, Cannon explained that Zen’s condition worsened around Thanksgiving.

“The process sped up. Ultimately, it was cancer in the brain. The tumor began to grow a lot faster,” Cannon said.

“This weekend I made an effort to spend the most quality time with Zen. We woke up on Sunday…and went to the ocean with him,” Cannon said. “I was preparing my day as it normally went. I didn’t know what it was going to be. But even by the time I got in the car headed for the airport, I had to turn around.”

Zen passed away this weekend. He was only five months old. Zen was Cannon’s seventh and youngest child and his mother Scott hasn’t spoken publicly yet.

Cannon, who was crying as he shared the news, was met with an outpouring of love and empathy from the studio audience, who cheered and cried out along with him as he shared his heartbreaking testimony, which was the first time that anyone even knew that Cannon and Scott’s son was struggling with health issues.

“This is a special show dedicated to my beautiful son,” Cannon shared.

I can’t even imagine what Cannon and Scott are experiencing right now. Sending so much love to these parents during this devastating time. And a separate thank you to Cannon for the courage to grieve and show emotions so openly on his show.