Nick Cannon.

Nick Cannon's come clean on what really happened when he was hospitalized earlier this month with "mild kidney failure," as his wife Mariah Carey put it.

"They thought it was kidney stones … then a kidney infection," Cannon said on his New York-based 92.3 NOW radio show. "They found out my kidneys weren't functioning well." He added, "We didn't want to say 'kidney failure' so people would think I gotta get new kidneys and Gary Coleman and all that stuff, so we said 'mild kidney failure.' "

Now he's drinking a lot of water and has a "couple more procedures" to go through. "Overall, I'm good," he said. "I'm feeling 100 percent."

Cannon was chatting with his soon-to-be "America's Got Talent" cohort Howard Stern, who also broadcasted the conversation to his SiriusXM listeners. Stern made Cannon get candid about his pop star wife.

"Especially though this entire process, we've become so much closer," he said. "I even got a chance to see a different side of my wife where she became so nurturing. I'm in debt to her forever."

Cannon was initially hospitalized in Aspen, Colo., on Jan. 4. He was later moved to a Los Angeles hospital.