Nick Cannon Admits He Never Thought He Was Attractive — “I Had to Use My Personality to Win Women Over”

Nick Cannon says he has always relied on charisma rather than looks when it comes to dating.

On this weeks episode of his podcast Nick Cannon at Night, he joined Bre Tiesi, one of the mothers of his children, and women’s health specialist Dr. Kerryanne Perkins to answer a fan’s question about dating someone who isn’t physically attracted to them.

Cannon, who has twelve children with six different women, shared that he struggled with his appearance as a child.

“And I know as a man, just, all my life, I was a little scrawny little kid. I never led with looks,” he said. “I always like, yo, I was little, so I had to have a big personality. I had to like talk my way into getting a girl to like me.”

Recalling childhood compliments that suggested he would grow into his looks, he added, “’Cause [women] were like, ‘Oh, you’re going to be so cute when you get older.’ I was like, and I was like, ‘I’m older than you.’ So, like, in that sense, that was my gift and my curse because it never really mattered to me what I looked like because I never thought I was this handsome individual anyway.”

Cannon explained that not relying on looks pushed him to develop other traits.

“But I feel like it built up all of these other attributes because I was like, ‘Look, I’mma have to keep up with the light-skinned, curly-haired dudes that get all the girls.’ So, in that vibe, I feel like it made me a more well-rounded individual than some of the guys that were just relying on being pretty boys.”

His personality-first approach has clearly worked.

For Cannon, charm and confidence have always been his biggest assets, proving that dating isn’t just about looks, it’s about how you carry yourself and connect with others.