Separated or not, Nick Cannon is still willing to stand up for estranged wife Mariah Carey.

According to E! Online, during a recent NBCU Cable Upfront, New York City red carpet event, Cannon stopped Bravo host Andy Cohen in his tracks when he took an unsolicited swipe at the "America's Got Talent" host's soon-to-be ex-wife.

The 34-year-old Cannon was speaking with Cohen, Maria Menounos, Giuliana Rancic and Ross Matthews about his upcoming Oxygen Network show "The Assistants," when Cohen wondered out loud what a Cannon assistant might be moved to say about him as a boss.

"I have a feeling that they would say that he is very demanding but loving and good," said Cohen. "I'd rather be Nick Cannon's assistant than Mariah Carey's assistant."

Several gasps, pauses and laughs later, Cannon responded, "I was waiting for it, I knew that was going to happen at some point." Things got even more serious, and Cannon's voice seemed to grow even sterner when he talked about what a great mother Carey is to their two young children.

"She's an amazing mother, and I know it and the world knows it," he said.

Cannon and Carey are now in the midst of divorce proceedings that at time have grown contentious. TMZ previously reported the "Drumline" star filed for divorce in December 2014, and Carey quickly responded by slapping him with a gag order that prohibits him from intimately talking about the nature of their relationship or run the risk of penalty during settlement time.

More recently, Cannon has been romantically linked to everyone from Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Jessica White to Nicole Murphy to Amber Rose, and Carey was recently spotted on a yacht in St. Bart's vacationing with "Rush Hour" film director Brett Ratner.