Eddie Murphy says the real gap between him and Nick Cannon isn’t how many kids they have—it’s when those kids showed up in their lives.
The 64-year-old star has built a family of 10 children over the course of three decades. He shares five adult kids with his first wife, Nicole Mitchell Murphy—Bria, Myles, Shayne, Zola, and Bella—from a marriage that lasted from 1993 to 2006.
His oldest, Eric, was born in 1989 to Paulette McNeely, while Christian arrived the following year with Tamara Hood. He later welcomed his daughter, Angel, with Melanie “Mel B” Brown in 2007, and his two youngest children, Izzy and Max, with his current wife, Australian model Paige Butcher.
Their ages now range from 6 to 36, and Murphy is clear about how he feels about that squad. Speaking to People, he explained that having 10 kids was never part of some grand plan, but he’s fully on board with the outcome.
“I never knew I would have 10 kids, but now it’s the best thing ever,” he said, adding that “if you can afford that many kids, you should have as many kids as you can afford.” He also pointed out that he’s proud of who they’ve become: “My children are all decent people. I don’t have one rotten one, and I would like to think that they got some of that from me.”
Murphy is also settled into grandfather mode. His son, Myles, made him a grandfather in 2019, and again in 2024. His daughter, Bria, is currently expecting a baby, which Murphy celebrated at the Los Angeles premiere of his Netflix documentary, Being Eddie.
Cannon, meanwhile, has 12 children, all born since 2011, with six different mothers. He’s repeatedly said that fatherhood is the center of his life, telling People in 2022, “Every day I just wake up excited as a father. I’m so excited about all my kids.”
At the same time, Cannon has acknowledged the pressure of that schedule, saying that the most challenging part is not getting enough time with each child.
Because both men have large families, their names are often linked together. Murphy says that’s where the one big difference comes in. “People always say, ‘Nick Cannon, he got, like, 12 kids,’” Murphy said. Then he made the distinction clear: “I didn’t have that many when I was that young. God bless him.”
And despite all the jokes, Murphy also shut down one running theory. “I’ve never talked to Nick. Did I ever meet Nick Cannon?” he said, before confirming, “I didn’t give him any parenting advice.”