Abby De La Rosa is shedding light on her open relationship with Nick Cannon.
During a recent interview with the “Lovers and Friends” podcast, the model and DJ spoke about navigating people’s opinions on her involvement with the 41-year-old comedian, her switch to a polyamorous lifestyle and why she wants people to “stay the fuck away from my motherhood.”
De La Rosa, 31, shares twin sons Zion Mixolydian and Zillion Heir with Cannon, who hosts “Wild ’n Out” on VH1. Speaking to “Friends and Lovers” host Shan Boodram, De La Rosa pointed out that being in a polyamorous relationship doesn’t mean “you have low self-esteem or low self-worth.”
De La Rosa ― who said she’s just barely begun to “scratch the surface” of being a mom ― told Boodram that although people have criticized her unconventional relationship, it doesn’t “take away” from her motherhood capabilities.
“Me being open in my relationship does not change or take away from the type of mother that I am to my kids,” De La Rosa said. “I’m excited for my kids to grow up and be like, ‘Mom and Dad, y’all did it your way. And I love that.’”
Still, she admitted to being “hypersensitive when people attack me and my motherhood.”
De La Rosa, who said she became involved with Cannon when she was 30 years old, gushed that he brought a “freeing vibe” to her life, and that while initially she had knowledge of the “the type of lifestyle he had lived,” she didn’t know “the capacity of how big it really was.”
Cannon shares twins, Moroccan and Monroe, with ex-wife Mariah Carey; a son, Golden Sagon, and a daughter, Powerful Queen, with Brittany Bell; another son, Legendary Love, with Bre Tiesi; and a daughter, Onyx Ice Cole, with LaNisha Cole.
In addition, Cannon and model Alyssa Scott had a son, Zen, who died in December at 5 months old after being diagnosed with brain cancer.
Bell is currently pregnant with her third child with Cannon. De La Rosa is also expecting a third child, although she and Cannon have yet to publicly confirm the paternity.
De La Rosa told Boodram that Cannon is her “primary partner” and that she’s been “monogamous by choice” during her pregnancy.
Though she’s received criticism for her lifestyle, the expecting mother says she’s content with her situation.
“Naturally, yes, I can understand everyone’s distaste and disagreeance in the way that I have chosen to live my life. And I find it funny too when everyone’s always coming and being like ‘He’s playing you, he’s playing you,’” De La Rosa said. “Technically speaking, we all know about each other. It’s just how much do you want to know, how much are you choosing to know. And I trust the connection that I have with Nick.”
On Thursday, while announcing the birth of his daughter Onyx with Cole, a former “The Price Is Right” model, Cannon addressed criticism of his expanding family on Instagram.
“As we all know, I am not easily triggered and have quite tough skin and have always been an open book but not everyone in my family has that same level of strength,” Cannon wrote in the caption of the birth announcement. “So I pray and ask others to please project all criticism and cynicism towards ME and not the loving and precious Mothers of my children.”