Joe Rogan Thought He Was Going To Die After This Horrific Accident

Over the last several years, Joe Rogan has attracted so many listeners that he can afford to pay his staff well, and he even turned down $100 million. It makes sense that Joe is so successful even though he has been called “genuinely embarrassing.” Howard Stern told him to apologize, and fans have asked if he was “insincere.” After all, many fans love that Joe is fearless enough to defend Justin Bieber, call out stars who date Jennifer Lopez, and feud with a famous influencer.

Given everything that Joe has accomplished, one of the most amazing facts about him is that he once though his career wasn’t going to happen. Instead, Joe has revealed that he thought he was going to lose his life after a horrific accident.

Joe Rogan Almost Died As A Child

Looking at everything that Joe Rogan has accomplished, it is clear that he has one of the most remarkable careers of anyone in the entertainment industry. After all, Joe has found success in a myriad of different ways over the years.

After first finding success as a comedian, Joe went on to become a reality show host and a sitcom star. If that wasn’t enough, and it clearly was, Joe is also a UFC commentator and an incredibly popular podcast host.

Looking at everything that Joe has done, it is staggering to know that Joe once thought all of that couldn’t have happened. The reason for that is that it turns out that Joe once thought he was going to lose his life as a teenager due to his involvement in a horrible accident.

In May 2024, Joe welcomed the co-creator and star of Impractical Jokers, Sal Vulcano, on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

During the resulting conversation, which can be watched on YouTube, Joe spoke about a stunning moment from his own childhood.

At around the 1-hour-37-minute mark of the interview, Sal asked Joe if he ever had a moment when he thought he was going to die. “Did you ever have a moment where you thought ‘I might die?’ Did you have that feeling?”

According to Britannica, Joe Rogan was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 11th, 1967. After his parents got divorced, Joe and his mom moved to San Francisco when he was seven, and his family eventually settled in Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts.

Without missing a beat, Joe began telling his guest about an incident from when he was a teenager during which he thought he was going to die.

I went to the hospital and I thought I was gonna die. I did think I was gonna die at that point, but I was also 14.

Before revealing that he thought he was going to die, Joe revealed how he suffered the injury that made him fear for his life at the time.

An October 2018 clip from “The Joe Rogan Experience” from YouTube featured Joe Rogan talking about the lack of parental supervision he had 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 talking to Sal, Joe explained that when he was 14, he and his friends were playing in an industrial area where there were huge pipes.

“When I was, like, 14. Me and, a few friends were playing around in this place where they stored these, like, enormous concrete, like sewer pipes. Like, these big f****** pipes.”

Unfortunately for Joe, as he was playing with his pals, a horrible accident took place.

As Joe explained to Sal, a part of the machinery that was used to move those huge pipes moved when he was there. Joe was struck in the head by that part of the machinery.

“There was this, this giant metal thing that I guess it was a part of what you attach to a crane so they can move these things. And it slipped and hit me in the head. And I didn’t go unconscious, but I grayed out, like, I grayed out. And my head was pouring blood.”

While Joe clearly didn’t die after that horrible accident, that doesn’t mean that he walked away completely unscathed. As Joe revealed to Sal during the same podcast episode, the accident left its mark on him to this day.

I still have a big ding on the side of my head from it.

Joe Rogan Questions How Much Freedom Kids Should Have Now

Based on what Joe Rogan has said about his childhood, it is clear that he didn’t have a lot of parental supervision as a child. That freedom that Joe had clearly played a role in the accident that at the time he thought was going to end his life. With that in mind, it is fascinating to look at how much freedom Joe thinks kids should have.

In October 2021, Joe spoke to Steve Rinella about how hard it is for parents to know how much freedom to give kids. During the podcast episode, that can be watched on YouTube, Joe questioned how much parents should try to control their kids these days.

“It’s like, how much freedom do you give them? Like, how much do you talk to them about stuff? How much do you let them figure this stuff out on their own?”

Joe went on to explain that part of the reason he struggles to know how much to control his kids is because of access to the internet.

“You know, it’s, it’s tricky. And it’s a weird world because it didn’t exist previous. Like, it’s not like we’re dealing with something that we went through when we were children. There was no Google when we were children. There was no, you know, live leak.”

The one thing that Joe was clear about was that it is a mistake for parents to be too controlling of their kids. “People do helicopter parent, and we know how that turns out. Right? That’s not good when you overly coddle your kid and your kid is not exposed to any sort of adversity or any sort of danger or any sort of adventure or any sort of, independence that it it could be stifling. And then it takes a long time for the child to develop outside of that parental environment once they become free.”