The crew on Nick Cannon's talk show had no idea he was going to announce his 5-month-old's death on the live episode

• Nick Cannon's 5-month-old son Zen died of brain cancer Sunday.
• He tearfully announced the news during a live taping of "The Nick Cannon Show" that aired Tuesday.

Just before Nick Cannon told his TV show's live audience that his 5-month-old son Zen had died of cancer, he disclosed that not even his crew knew this announcement was coming.

Cannon began a segment of his show called "Pic of the Day" with the disclaimer that he had a "very tough weekend," and that he hadn't shared the news with "anybody."

"Today is a special one y'all, for many reasons, but it's not going to be an easy one, because I have so much to talk about," he said on the Nick Cannon Show. "I actually haven't even shared this with anybody really, I mean, not even the crew. I came in today kind of quiet."

As previously reported by Insider, Cannon went on to share details about his son. The actor and TV host became visibly emotional as he started to talk. He paused his speech, and continued after cheers and encouraging applause from the live audience.

"He was the most loving," Cannon said. "We called him 'Z Chilling.' He was always smiling. Always having the most beautiful spirit. I always noticed he had a cough and so I wanted to check it out."

Cannon said they thought it would be a "routine" appointment, but doctors eventually they found that Zen had a "malignant tumor" in his head.

He said Zen, who had surgery and had a shunt placed to drain fluid, started to get sicker over Thanksgiving weekend and that his tumor began growing. At this point on his show, Cannon became visibly emotional again as he explained that he was able to hold his son "for the last time."

"I didn't know how I was going to handle today," the actor said. "I just really wanted to grieve with my family. I didn't want to make it about any pageantry or any of that type of stuff, so I kind of went back and forth about what I should do but I felt like I was always talking about, 'You don't go through it — you grow through it' and I have so much faith in the Lord."

"People were often telling me I should pray for miracles and I did pray for the miracle," Cannon said. "I pray for the miracle of God's strength and that's why I'm here with you guys today."

You can watch the full video of Cannon's announcement below: