With Nick Cannon set to welcome his fifth child this year (his 12th child in total), everyone's curious as to just how much child support the TV personality pays.
In fact, rumors have swirled that the 42-year-old pays upwards of a bank-breaking $3 million per year to the five mothers of his children.
The mind-boggling figure came from Goldie Schon, a practicing family law attorney from California, who told The Sun US: "When you have somebody like Nick Cannon, who's an extremely high-income earner, the courts in California have the right to deviate from the typical child support guidelines."
Schon then added that Cannon's yearly income would be taken into account by the courts, saying: "If he is taking home somewhere upward of $5 million a year, you have to look at what it would take to have the children kept in the lifestyle of both parents. Dad is clearly a public figure and makes a substantial income. The lifestyle has to be the same with mom as it is with dad."
Oof... I'm already breaking a sweat just thinking about it!
Schon's figure came from her estimates of how much Cannon would be paying per child per month - revealing those figures could be as high as $30,000 and $40,000 per child. Though, the good news is, California family law provides that Cannon - who has recently welcomed several children with women who are already mothers to his previous children - will actually pays less child support than if he were to choose a new baby mama.
"It's almost like he's getting he's getting a discount with Abby and Brittany having a third child," Schon revealed.
The attorney also added that she believes Cannon would not be paying child support for his first two children - twins Moroccan and Monroe, whom he shares with ex-wife Mariah Carey - as the RnB legend would most likely be making more money than him.
She also commended his ability to father children with women who are known to keep their financial statuses with Cannon a secret from tabloids, stating: "This man actually has the ability to have children with women who don't litigate against him. He's clearly been so generous with his finances and his income that he's stopped them from going to the courthouse."
Though, despite Schon's expertise on Cannon's financial situation, the TV personality has responded to her $3-million-a-year estimates, claiming to The Neighborhood Talk: "I definitely spend a lot more than that on my children annually.
"I don't plan to ever have to participate in the governmental system of child."
Obviously, Cannon's child support situation is something of great interest to many people, most likely because he shares 11 children - and is currently expecting his 12th - to five different women (he's a self-declared consensual non-monogamist, per a recent YouTube interview).
I mean, one look at his comments section reveals how most people feel about his remarkable ability to father new children on the regular, especially as most people find it difficult to dedicate time to one child, let alone 12!
"Could somebody explain to him that #Money is the last thing you need to raise children? #Time #Love #Interest [...] And you're only one person! And there are only 24 hrs in a day! So… they're raising each other at this point," one person commented under one of Cannon's recent Instagram posts.
"Its sad because even if he never runs out of money, the sad truth is he will run out of time. There is no possible way he's going to be there for every child, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and don't start about how many school plays and ball games he's going to miss. You can only be at one place at a time sir," someone else commented.
They continued: "The money will run out with all of these kids whew! You are a celebrity which the women see money bag. I hope it all works out for you! [...] Children need fathers at the table. This is becoming a bad joke!"
Of course, this is just fan speculation. As long as Cannon, his children, and their mothers are happy with the situation, that's all that matters, right?
What do you think of Cannon's unique situation? Let us know in the comments!
