Nick Cannon: ‘I Scared A Lot Of People, I Scared Myself’
March 5 2012, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Mariah Carey’s husband Nick Cannon, in his first TV interview since he fell ill over the new year, opens up about the sickness he suffered through, as well as how he’s coping with it, in a chat with Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts Monday.
"I scared a lot of people. I scared myself," the America’s Got Talent host, 31, said of contracting lupus, which landed him in a Colorado hospital earlier this year.
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"The technical term is lupus nephritis," he said. "It's a rare form of lupus that's just attacking my kidneys. They thought it was just kidney disease and then they were trying to figure out why my immune system was attacking my kidneys and that was sort of the root of it all.
"My kidneys were in tip-top shape but I started to feel pain again. And because of my schedule and everything, I had a few blood clots in my lungs which then affected my heart as well. A lot of people have passed away from that, and the doctor said, luckily I was in such great shape and taking care of myself, because a lot of people have been taken down by it."
As result of the illness, the father of 10-month-old twins has had to make some drastic life changes -- most notably leaving his New York radio show Rollin with Nick Cannon -- to accommodate his recovery.
"I have been ordered to sleep at least six hours a night," Cannon said. "They say rest is probably the best medicine. I'm dealing with it. Of course I'm not used to the medicines, but I feel like I'm starting to figure out a lot of holistic ways, meditation and stuff to get through it ... the diet is the worst part. I can't have any fast food anymore … no Happy Meals, nothing."
He joked that his superstar wife has been his foremost caretaker, calling her “Dr. Carey.”
"She made me an egg-white sandwich before I left the house this morning," Cannon said. "Those are the things I have to be eating now, no more bacon. She takes care of me, makes sure I'm eating what I'm supposed to be."
Cannon -- who has baby twins with 41-year-old Carey, Moroccan and Monroe -- will continue hosting America’s Got Talent and his syndicated show, Cannon’s Countdown.
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