A Deeper Look Into Joe Rogan’s Complicated Relationships With His Parents

Joe Rogan has so many listeners that he has become wealthy enough to pay his staff very well and even turn down $100 million. The reason for that is, despite criticisms about him being insincere, Joe is so true to himself that he would never listen to Howard Stern's advice to apologize to the world. Instead, Joe remains willing to defend Justin Bieber, feud with a famous influencer, and mock stars who date Jennifer Lopez.

Even though Joe talks about celebrities in ways that have gotten him accused of being "genuinely embarrassing," he rarely talks about his family. With that in mind, it is fascinating to look at what Jeff has said about his complicated relationships with his parents.

Joe Rogan Has A Broken Relationship With His Father

Now that Joe Rogan is one of the most successful people in the entertainment business, it can be easy to assume that he has always been blessed. However, the reality of the situation is that Joe has occasionally spoken about how bad a pivotal relationship in his life was.

Based on everything that Joe has said about his relationship with his father, they have a broken relationship. For example, Joe revealed during an episode of his podcast with Erik Griffin as his guest that he hasn't had a relationship with his father in decades.

In October 2018, the JRE Clips YouTube channel uploaded a segment of Joe and Erik's conversation. As the clip begins, Joe asks his guest about his relationship with his father. After Erik stated he that had never met his dad, Joe shared his own experiences with his father.

After Erik joked about Joe bringing up a difficult topic, the podcast host stated that he doesn't know his father. Furthermore, Joe explained that his negative relationship with his father is especially uncomfortable since they share the same name.

I don't know mine either. Mine's name is Joe Rogan.

As reports about Joe's background confirm, the popular podcast host's father is named Joseph Rogan Sr.

As the conversation continued, Erik asked Joe if he ever wanted to meet his father, clearly assuming they never had a relationship at all.

According to Britannica, Joe Rogan was born on August 11th, 1967 in Newark, New Jersey. The outlet reports that Joe's parents divorced when he was five and then his mother took him to live in San Francisco when he was seven.

However, at that point, Joe clarified that his father was part of his life for several years when he was a young child.

I mean, I met him. I knew him until I was, like, six.

In response to Joe revealing his dad was part of his life and then gone, Erik immediately expressed empathy. "Oh, that's worse. I never knew. So I think that that's when you if you know him a little bit, and then they're gone, that sucks."

What Erik couldn't know is that, based on what Joe has said about his father, it seems like he would have been relieved to his dad gone. Of course, nobody but Joe can truly know about how he felt about his father being absent, since emotions can be complicated and confusing.

The following section of this article will speak about abuse allegations in very general terms.

What is clear is that in October 2015, Joe spoke to Rolling Stone about his father being abusive.

“All I remember of my dad, are these brief, violent flashes of domestic violence. And when I was five, I had a fight with one of my cousins — punched him in the face over something stupid — and his mother was screaming to my parents, ‘Your son’s a little monster. He punched my kid in the face!’ My dad pulled me aside and I told him the truth of what happened. He said, ‘Did you cry?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Good, don’t ever cry.’ I mean, he was happy that I punched my cousin."

After making that comment, Joe told the outlet he didn't want people to feel sorry for him. "But I don’t want to complain about my childhood. Nothing bad ever really happened to me. It was just confusing, you know? He was just a very violent, scary guy. After the split, we moved to San Francisco and that was it. Never heard from him again.”

In February 2023, The New York Post spoke to Joe's father, Joe Sr., who told the outlet that he sent his son a legal letter to get the podcast host to stop talking about him. Before that, in September 2022, Joe spoke to The New York Post and denied his famous son's abuse allegations.

“When they left me, there was no police reports, no complaints against me, no restraining orders, nothing. I took him every Friday for almost a year. Friday, Saturday and Sunday – he was with me. I would go get him and I would watch him and take care of him. If I was the big bad wolf, they would have had a restraining order against me.”

There will be no more mention of abuse allegations in the remainder of this article.

During the aforementioned clip from "The Joe Rogan Experience," Joe claimed that there was one positive side effect of his negative relationship with his father.

The good thing is it made me realize that you can't count on people, but you can count on some people.

However, Joe went on to say that his relationship with his father left him with trust issues.

Joe Rogan's Relationship With His Mom Was A Lot More Positive, But Still Unusual

While Joe Rogan has painted a very negative picture of his dad, he has a lot more positive things to say about his mom. During one episode of his podcast, Joe gave a very specific picture of what kind of person his mom was.

In June 2024, Joe had Shane Gillis as a guest on "The Joe Rogan Experience," as can be watched on YouTube. During that episode, Joe spoke about an experience he had when he attended Catholic school for a year and dealt with a mean nun. While telling that story, Joe praised the kind of person his mom was.

My mom, who’s like this sweet lady. This is the lady that I’m used to.

During the aforementioned Rolling Stone interview, Joe spoke about how free-spirited his mom could sometimes be during his childhood. “My mom would go over and get naked with [our neighbors] and play the bongos and smoke pot.”

While Joe clearly seems to love his mom, he has admitted that she often wasn't involved with him during his childhood. During the aforementioned clip of him talking to Erik Griffin from his podcast, Joe revealed that he had too much freedom as a child.

"My mom worked. My stepdad was a really good guy, but no one was ever around. You know? When they were done working, everybody was tired. You know, I was a latchkey kid, you know. When I was like seven years old, I lived in San Francisco. I would go out and do a magic show on Fisherman's Wharf by myself. Just wander around the city. Just they would open the door. You just leave. Seven. I can imagine that. I spent a lot of time by myself too because my mom was working."

While admitting that he was able to do dangerous things as a child because he didn't have a parent stopping him, Joe speaks about his mom with empathy for her struggles.