Nick Cannon says he was insecure Mariah Carey was the 'alpha' in their marriage. He's not the only man who's admitted to being jealous of a partner's success.

• Nick Cannon precocious opened up astir emotion insecure during his six-year matrimony to Mariah Carey.
• Cannon said he struggled pinch Carey's domiciled arsenic nan "alpha" successful their relationship.
• "I would laic up astatine night, thinking, like, 'Is this who I am? Am I Mariah's man?'" he said.

During their six-year marriage, Nick Cannon said he knew what group were thinking: "The kid from Nickelodeon is pinch Mariah Carey?"

"Psychologically, that started fucking pinch me," Cannon revealed during a caller quality connected nan Ray Daniels Presents podcast.

As a child prima connected Nickelodeon's "All That" and its spin-off "The Nick Cannon Show," Cannon was an avowed instrumentality of Carey, who's 11 years his senior. They sparked romance rumors successful 2008 erstwhile Cannon starred successful nan singer's "Bye Bye" euphony video. He was 27 astatine nan time, while she had precocious turned 39.

Shortly aft nan video's release, the mates secretly sewage married. They welcomed twins, Moroccan and Monroe, successful 2011 and announced their divorce successful 2014.

Despite their property spread and whirlwind engagement, Cannon told Daniels that he didn't attraction what nan world thought of their narration — but he did struggle pinch his ain internalized stereotypes astir "manhood" and gender roles.

"I sewage joined successful my 20s still, to nan biggest prima successful nan world. My trajectory was here, and past hers — she's already successful a different stratosphere," Cannon said. "I would laic up astatine night, thinking, like, 'Is this who I am? Am I Mariah's man? Is that what my life is expected to be?'"

Cannon has said he was already a millionaire by his early 20s. The twelvemonth aft his wedding, he was appointed nan honorary president and improvement advisor for TeenNick and launched his ain accumulation company, NCredible. He has gone connected to big shows for illustration VH1's "Wild 'n Out" and Fox's "The Masked Singer." Today, nan 44-year-old Cannon's intermezo empire reportedly generates astir $100 cardinal a year.

Meanwhile, Carey, 55, is 1 of the best-selling signaling artists of each time and nan top-performing female soloist successful Billboard history. She has 19 No. 1 songs, much than immoderate different female and 2nd only to The Beatles.

Carey's nett worthy hasn't been publically reported, but based connected nan numbers we've seen precocious from legacy artists trading their catalogs, her multi-decade postulation of hits is apt worthy hundreds of millions of dollars. Last year, Billboard estimated that conscionable 1 of her No. 1 songs, Carey's perennial vacation classical "All I Want for Christmas Is You," generates over $8 cardinal a year successful world gross and publishing royalties.

Cannon admitted that he grew accustomed to a lavish manner while being joined to Carey.

"I sewage really comfortable successful it. She's sewage islands. I'm waking up astatine noon, group bringing maine steaks connected a platter," he said pinch a laugh.

However, erstwhile Carey gave commencement to their children, Cannon said his domiciled successful nan family "hierarchy" exacerbated his insecurities.

"Wait, I'm carrying a purse, nan diaper bag. I'm opinionated connected nan corner," he recalled. "She's rockin' being nan alpha that she is. And I judge she needs a dude for illustration that. I'm conscionable not that dude."

Cannon praised Carey for being "understanding" and "evolved," moreover while he was struggling pinch his personality and career.

In 2009, The New York Times reported that Cannon was owed to merchandise an medium pinch Island Def Jam, Carey's explanation astatine nan time. That medium ne'er materialized, and Cannon told Daniels he was worried nan explanation was only willing successful him because of his wife's monolithic sales. He moreover said that astatine 1 constituent during their relationship, he would deterioration suits each day, "trying to beryllium that I'm a man."

"That's nan thing, erstwhile personification has their ain world, their ain scope, their ain bubble, and you gotta beryllium a subordinate successful that — I'm [the] main character!" he said.

"I was getting huffy astatine myself. It was for illustration musculus atrophy," Cannon continued. "I'm not being nan dude that God put maine connected this world to be."

Cannon is acold from nan only man who's admitted to being suspicious of his wife's financial status. According to "The Love Gap" by journalist Jenna Birch, location is simply a modern inclination of consecutive men who declare to want partners who are intelligent, ambitious, and successful, yet diminution to prosecute women who show those qualities.

As Business Insider antecedently reported, "The Love Gap" cites a 2015 study published successful nan diary Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, which recovered that "men rated women who were supposedly much intelligent arsenic much desirable — isolated from erstwhile they met nan women face-to-face. Then they rated nan women arsenic little desirable."

A 2013 study published by nan American Psychological Association recovered a akin inclination among consecutive men. Researchers recovered that antheral self-esteem took a deed erstwhile a female partner excelled successful a task, while women's self-esteem didn't look affected by their antheral partners' successes aliases failures.

"It makes consciousness that a man mightiness consciousness threatened if his woman outperforms him successful thing they're doing together, specified arsenic trying to suffer weight," said nan study's lead author, Kate Ratliff, Ph.D., of nan University of Florida. "But this investigation recovered grounds that men automatically construe a partner's occurrence arsenic their ain failure, moreover erstwhile they're not successful nonstop competition."