and you know him as an emmy-winning talk show host, but montel williams is passionate about politics. >> i don't know why all of a sudden this country decided that we all have to be against each other. >> and keeping america great. >> something that's called the home of the brave, the land of the free. where we all dreamed that we are the same. that's what we want to be. >> this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. tonight, a big story. nick cannon battling back since a serious health scare and speaking out about the fight for his life. the host of "america's got talent," my old show, nick is married to mariah carey and the father of two young boys. nick cannon, you're live. >> yes, and you just turned my daughter into a boy. >> oh, a daughter! i keep forgetting that. >> you got them gifts. you were at the baby shower and you don't remember it was one boy, one girl. >> my humble apologies. it was me that just had a daughter as well. >> yes, congratulations. >> how are you? >> i'm good. it's awesome. obviously, it was a rough start at the beginning of the year, but i'm turning it all into a positive. >> when i worked with you on "america's got talent," you were super fit and you used to boast to me about what great shape you were in. you flexed the guns and so on. what went wrong? do you know what happened? >> yes, it was a few things. i feel like the thing that kind of brought it to a head was, i was overworking myself. working out too much. i actually was trying to work through a cold at the time, while i was in aspen with the family, and i think that kind of just -- my body went into overload. i was trying to use a bunch of cold medicines, i was already on a bunch of protein, working out and all of that, and it just kind of created this pain that i could not deal with in my back. and i kind of had a feeling, like, yo, that's probably my kidneys. and a lot of people are like, maybe it's kidney stones from dehydration, maybe it's an infection. and as they did more and more tests, they actually found out that i had kidney failure. and it took a while, it took a few months, but through a bunch of tests and studies, they found out that i have lupus nephritis, which is an autoimmune disease that attacks -- it's a rare one. mine was a very rare case, but it's attacking only my kidneys. >> only you would have even a cool-named disease. lupus nephritis. >> yes! >> that sounds like a rapper. >> right?! you're funny today. >> but, joking apart, i have known you a while, and i know from people who know you, it was pretty serious. and some of the doctors actually felt it could be very, very serious. >> well, not only is lupus nephritis very serious, but the things that it can bring on. and one of the biggest things, they were saying that i was prone, i was more prone to getting blood clots. and i was trying to do everything to prevent that. i was wearing the surgical stockings, i was on a blood thinner, so many different things while i was in the hospital. and after i hosted the pre-show for the super bowl, i started to get pain again and, this time it was a little higher, and there was fluid around my lungs, and i had two blood clots in my lungs. and because of that, i also had an enlarged heart. so there was a lot that really happened because my kidneys weren't functioning right. >> was there a moment when you thought, i'm in real trouble here? >> i've tried to be optimistic the entire time. everyone else around me, obviously, is very like, this is life threatening and this could happen. so i never got to that stage, where i was like, okay, this is it, but i knew the severity of the situation. so, i, you know, i'm a glasses half full type of guy. i never went to that place, even though i knew it was very serious. >> my glass is half full. part of me was obviously feeling really, you know, sorry for you. and the other half, the positive glass half full was thinking, maybe i can get back on to "america's got talent," as the host. >> there's a slot open. i'm here to tell you, you need to slow down too. >> i flew around with you a lot on the show, and you used to tell me about your schedule and you used to make me exhausted hearing you talk about it. you had this crazy, crazy schedule. you would survive on basically two or three hours' of sleep a day. >> i've now been ordered to get at least six hours of sleep a night. >> are you doing that? >> i have to. the doctors say, you have to lay down for at least six hours, and not only because of my condition, but because you can so i have to be, you know, horizontal for at least six hours. but, i mean, i'm dealing with it. the doctor, they made me quit my morning radio show, which i wasn't excited about. >> you loved that show. >> i loved doing it, but on the east coast, i was up at 4:00 a.m. to do a five-hour show, and on the west coast, i was up at 1:00 a.m., wasn't even sleeping and doing my show. >> you made a sort of documentary about this and footage. i want to just play a bit of this. >> the whole process, i've been documenting. >> witness this incredible health. >> facing more health problems. >> sometimes you have good days, some days are bad days. >> nick suffered mild kidney failure. >> as tough i want to be on bad days -- >> doctors found two blood clots -- >> yeah, i'm directing that. i put that together. i've just been, since probably my first time out of the hospital in january, i've just been having cameras on, and it's real intimate and raw. >> why have you wanted to do that? >> for so many reasons. one, to kind of show the other people how they're dealing with these illnesses, that they're not alone. a lot of people see me on television, talking to piers morgan and different shows, but they don't really get to see how it's affecting me. there are so many questions. how did you get this? how are you working through it? you're going to see all of this on my website, on nickcann nickcannon.com. >> 26 million americans have some sort of chronic disease. >> one out of nine adults are dealing with it in some kind of way. and people don't even know they have it. and that's kind of what, you know, world kidney day and this month is kidney month as well. they're just trying to get the message out there, to get tested. you know, it can come from high blood pressure, it can be hereditary. and the thing about kidney disease, people don't actually know they have it, because it disguises itself as fatigue. people like you and i who get tired all the time think, oh, i'm tired, i need to sleep, but those are the beginning stages and can turn into something more severe. >> more importantly, how is your lovely wife? >> she is amazing. dr. carey, i call her, because she's been taking care of me and our kids. >> how is it for her? >> we feel like we've been hospitals for almost two years, when you think about everything she went through being pregnant with twins and her having -- you know, it was a difficult pregnancy for her, and then, you know, right after that, the top of this year, i'm in the hospital as well. but she is such a pro. like, she knows all the home remedies, she knows when i'm supposed to take my medicine, what i'm supposed to eat. >> and is she pleased or not very pleased that you're now horizontal for at least six hours. >> she's actually more pleased. because we're actually now horizontal next to each other. so it's nice. i get to spend more time at home not doing the radio show and getting to rest more. that's what it's all about. family is first. i get to wake up in the morning, and feed my kids with my wife, where before i would be at the radio station. so this is better. this is great. >> it's interesting you mentioned that, because whitney the houston died, as we know, a few weeks ago. i covered the funeral for cnn. you tweeted, tell your loved ones how much you love them. mariah was at the funeral. what did you mean by that? >> it was quite interesting, because we found out, i was in the hospital, and i was looking at, watching cnn, in my hospital bed, and you know, mariah took it extremely hard and, you know, because not only was that someone who was her peer, it's also a close friend, and just to be able to -- i know what she was dealing with and how people just started to come and let her know how special she was and how to keep her head up. because everybody needs to hear that, with you know? we want to send the flowers, a lot of people can still smell them. >> it's very true. has this whole experience for you made you re-evaluate your life? >> absolutely. 100%. i wouldn't say it put me on a ticking clock, because i never want to think like that. but you want to spend each day making sure it counts. you know what i mean? like not wasting any time. but also not letting negativity and all the things that we might focus on that are really trivial get in the way. it's like, i want to focus on the right things. i want to focus on educating people about their health. i want to focus on, you know, so when i'm not here, there's a legacy of more than just, oh, he was a funny guy or whatever. i really want to leave this world a better place than before i got here. >> and i don't want to stress you anymore or upset you, but how is "america's got talent" without me? because during the auditions, i imagine it's a massive personal loss. >> it is a quite different show. that's all i'm going to say. there's a lot of people -- i'm not going to say a lot. i'm lying. there's a few people who miss you. and i'm one of them! i'm not going to lie. we had such an amazing report and banter back and forth. and my report, banter back and forth is different. because he comes in, like the audience is different. it's all these people screaming. but it's fun. i mean, it's a fun -- >> i'm sure it will be hilarious. i love howard. >> so we'll see what he's going to do. he's filling your shoes quite well. and he references you quite a bit. he says you were a great judge. he's a fan of yours. >> any other compliments? >> nah, that's it. >> seriously, a pleasure to see you. i'm glad you're back on track, because i was genuinely worried about you. >> you were. you texted me, you called me. one of the few people who really reached out and was actually concerned. >> well, you've always been very thoughtful to me. nick canon, good to see him back on track. coming up, what would jesus do? 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[ male announcer ] help your family stay afloat at aflac.com. plegh! will be giving away passafree copies at aflac.com. of the alcoholism & addiction cure. to get yours, go to ssagesmalibubook.com. tonight, the struggle for america's soul. pastor mark driscoll's x-rated talk that's got him taking heat from the left and the right. he's one of the most polarizing spiritual leaders in the country, and his new book is "real marriage: the truth about sex, friendship, and life together." the first guest who ever came clutching a bible. >> i brought it as a gift. as one irish catholic to another, i brought you a bible as a gift. i know you got a lot of christian gifts -- >> none of them ever brought me a bible. your book as managed to achieve the impossible. absolutely everybody has gone right and left. the right think it's way too graphic and explicit, because you talk about sex, which is unmentionable to a lot on the right. and the left say, who is this guy, talking about how women are supposed to be submissive, s succumb to their men. >> i don't think i said that. >> you did say that. >> we'll get that. >> tell me about the book. >> as a pastor, we do a lot of counselor and i decided to write down a lot of things we've been teaching together, my wife and i, as well as our own story, mistakes we've made, things we've learned. trying to help people. >> the first half of the book is on marriage, primarily around friendship. which is a big idea that's important -- >> but it evolves quite quickly from friendship into sex. you're keen on it. >> i think if you're married, you should enjoy one another and it helps to safeguard the marriage from all kinds of problems. >> only in marriage. >> only in marriage. that's the biblical position. >> you never had sex before marriage? >> i did and i was wrong. i had sex until i became a christian. i became a christian at ang 19. and i'll be the first to say, i'm not trying to throw stones at people and pretend that i've done it all right. i was sexually active and then i became a christian and reading the bible realized i shouldn't be sexually active, so i stopped. and i've been faithful to my wife now for 20 years by god's grace. >> that's an extraordinary story in here. your wife grace, you have a dream after you get married in which you -- >> i have weird dreams sometimes. i see stuff, supernatural stuff. >> tell me about this particular dream. >> well, it was something that had happened when we were first dating and she was only 17 years of age. i found out things later in the marriage like the fact that my wife had been sexually assaulted and we hadn't put together those details. i don't think it's uncommon when you get married, sometimes it's not until you're married for a few years that you get to really know each other. >> you had a dream where specifically you could envisage her making out and you confro confronted her after having the dream, it appears this happened earlier in her life, and she said, yes, it did. and you said, had you known about it, you would never have married her. why should it be one rule for her and one for you? >> i think i was being selfish and being a hypocrite. i'm not going to defend things i have said or thought. but i do believe that jesus died, rose, and he helps me. >> for people watching this, especially younger people, for example, so you say, it's all right for you. you had all this sex until you were 19 -- >> it wasn't a lot of sex. >> then you got born again. so you sort of sewed your wild oats and you become a born-again virgin. but for them, you're trying to punish them. they can't have anything. >> well, i think, ultimately, sex is best reserved for marriage. and i think if you look at the statistics of sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, there's a lot of people that are suffering -- >> there's sexual abuse in marriages. a lot of very unhappy marriages. one in three roughly ends in divorce. >> yeah, but the statistics -- >> pretty much. you wouldn't contest that? >> marriage is in a rough -- >> yeah, and the main thing of keeping your marriage alive from here is lots of sex. >> friendship. >> and lots of sex. >> well, friendship is really the foundation. >> this book is full -- and i don't want to go on about it, but it is full of sex. >> it talks about pornography and the detriment that it is. it talks about sexual assault -- >> i get you. >> the talk about sexuality isn't just all how to be cirque du soleil. >> what is surprising and what is contentious is that you think that women should play a more submissive role than perhaps the average modern woman would like to, in the sense that if the man wants to have sex at any time -- >> i don't believe that. i don't believe -- >> well, you do say that. >> well, what we say is that a couple should serve one another, love one another in the context of friendship, and that means sometimes he serves her, sometimes she serves him and that's really the context of the friendship in and out of the bedroom. but, no, i don't believe that a man should be boorish or bully or boss his wife and if he just gives an order, she's supposed to go ahead and do that. because that's very abusive. >> do you think a woman's place is really at home looking after children? >> i think it depends on the woman, it depends on the family. there's a lot of circumstances. i mean, with unemployment the way that it is and all the different variables, i'm a pastor. i have a church that i lead. and when you're dealing with people, there's a lot of complex variables. now, for us, we're very blessed. we have five kissed. kindergarten through a freshman in high school and grace is able to stay home with them and that's what she wants to do and i'm grateful for that. but we know for all families, we know that's not possible. >> many catholics don't agree on contraception. what's your view on that? >> i hold the more protestant position that contraception is not always sinful. so though i love and appreciate catholics and i was catholic for many years, i wouldn't hold that position. >> a critic would say, again, you've changed your position, because you realize that you couldn't have contraception as a catholic, so you drifted -- >> well, i couldn't get married as a catholic. that was more of an issue. >> i mean, should you be so positions and -- you know what i mean? >> for me, honestly, it goes back to the bible and i'm trying to look at biblical principles and be faithful to the scriptures. and for me, i couldn't have become a priest, because the vow of lifelong sell bcelibacy wouldn't have really worked for me. so i don't find contraception necessarily sinful in all cases. >> let's take a little break and come and talk about some of the big contentious issues of this week. kirk cameron, what he said about sexuality and gay marriage, in particular. there's been a mushroom cloud after this. >> let's get your view of that. we'll ask you after the break. >> okay. 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