Nick Cannon would have been called a "gigolo" if he wed as quickly as Mariah Carey, according to his father James Cannon.

Nick Cannon

Nick Cannon

The 52-year-old parent has admitted he is surprised the 46-year-old singer songwriter - who split from the 35 year old last year and is set to marry her new fiancée James Packer next year - moved on from her ex-husband so quickly, and believes if a man had acted the same way he would receive negative backlash and constant questioning whether he had been having an affair during the relationship.

Speaking about the couple's seven year marriage on 'The Howard Stern Show', he said: "If Nick would have moved on quickly like that, so soon after the marriage, everyone in the country would have been questioning things.

"A woman can come out of divorce immediately, people tell her to get someone else to get over it, but to a man that's not the advice I would have given to my son..

"I've been watching just like everyone else, someone (Mariah) is already dating before the divorce is even final. It's different for Mariah because she's a woman.

"If a man was ready to hook up with this billion-dollar lady - if Nick was ready to hook up with Oprah - then people would say: 'What's really going on before?'

"It could be where they get over relationships quicker and faster, then you've got to say: 'Are they committed into a relationship?' They get into relationships and break relationships. When a man is like that, they call him 'a player', a 'gigolo'."

However James believes 'The Nick Cannon Show' host - who has four-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with his former partner - has coped with the split well.

He explained: "He puts up a mask, he said: "I'm fine", but you've had a break up, marriage, in front of the world.

Meanwhile, the parent has defended his son against claims he is delaying the divorce with the 'Heartbreaker' hitmaker, and has revealed he hopes his child finds love again.

He said: "If Nick hasn't signed no papers, it's because the attorneys haven't put them in front of him.

"There was no major property what they purchased together, there was no fighting and, two years later, the attorney has still not sent him the paperwork to be signed."

"I hope Nick does date again, make as much money as possible and [have as many] kids as he can."

Tagged in