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Nick Cannon is opening up about the pivotal role his ex-wife, Mariah Carey, played in saving his life after he was diagnosed with lupus.
Cannon and Carey got married in April 2008 and welcomed their twins, Moroccan and Monroe, in April 2011 before the Masked Singer host was diagnosed with lupus in 2012.
During a recent podcast appearance on "The Diary Of A CEO," Cannon detailed how Carey helped him amid the diagnosis, Entertainment Tonight reports.
"She was my rock," Cannon told podcast host Steven Bartlett. "She went hard. To be honest, I probably wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for how hard she went with the doctors, with me, my stubbornness."
Cannon said Carey was "the perfect helpmate, the perfect matriarch, the perfect mom, the perfect wife in those scenarios." He went on to applaud Carey for handling "all of my stuff" while juggling her own stardom and motherhood.
"It probably took a toll on us just because of the person I was in my head and the struggles that I was dealing with," Cannon said. "But it definitely brought us closer together."
When asked if he believes Carey saved his life, Cannon said: "I absolutely do."
"But that's what you do when you find a helpmate. When you find someone that you're in matrimony with, you go hard for [them]," he continued. "I feel like I went hard for her and we'll still go hard -- I lay down my life for her today. That's what you do, it's just family."
The pair ultimately divorced in 2016. Now a father of 12, Cannon still considers Carey a great friend.
"We're still close friends, the best of friends, great parents together. I appreciate that time in my life," Cannon previously told ET. "Obviously we've all grown and evolved and went separate ways. But it was still like the biggest fantasy of my life."
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