Nick Cannon Says He Has Lupus-Like Autoimmune Disease

Actor Nick Cannon recently opened up to the public and his fans about his ongoing health problems.

No one knew about his heath issues until last January when he was hospitalized for kidney failure and his wife, Mariah Carey, snapped a photo of them together in his hospital bed. Cannon was hospitalized again a couple of weeks later with blood clots in his lung.

The 31-year-old spoke with People Magazine Wednesday night at Teqa Restaurant and Tequila Bar in New York where he said the blood cot hospitalization was the “scariest” for him because he’s known people who have passed away from having them.

“I thought I was getting better and then that happened, so that kind of came out of nowhere,” he said.

To focus on his recovery, the actor made the decision to step down from his New York-based radio show in February. Doctors also informed the father of two that his kidney condition is something he’s going to have for the rest of his life.

He told the popular entertainment magazine that his kidney disease was in result of an autoimmune disease found in his system by his doctors. His blood clots had to do with his kidney infection.

Even though this is a lot of health issues for Cannon to deal with all at once, he says everything is in order now.

When asked if the illness was hereditary, Cannon said, “They kind of say [my] autoimmune [disease] is – like a lupus type of thing, but no one else in my family has it.”

Cannon wants to focus on getting better with his young children and wife. “I feel blessed to be alive,” he said. “If it wasn’t discovered, I don’t know [what would have happened].”

Are you impressed with Nick Cannon’s openness about his disease?