Celebrities

Joe Rogan's sister says he is wrong about their father being abusive

Joe Rogan's sister says he is wrong about their father being abusive
Joe Rogan says we should 'just shoot' homeless people to podcast guest …
Video

Joe Rogan's half-sister Bridget Rogan Carselda has slammed the podcaster, saying he's wrong about "their father being violent and abusive."

In a report from DailyMail.com, Carselda, 43, is a government worker living in North Arlington, New Jersey, and recalls her father, Joe Rogan senior, as "the epitome of a wonderful father" to her and her twin sister Rosa as they grew up.

Rogan, who has more than 15 million followers on his popular podcast,The Joe Rogan Experience, publically lashed out at his father, claiming that he is violent and taught him toxic traits as he grew up.

The comedian UFC commentator often calls his childhood dark and his relationship with his father as barely-existent.

Rogan Sr, 80, hasn't spoken to or seen his son for almost 50 years.

And he only recently spoke out after his son dubbed him the "big bad wolf."

Sign upto our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Carselda told DailyMail.com that she and her half-brother did not grow up together and that her childhood experience was very different than his.

She also expressed her shock to hear the claims about her father.

"I just can't tell everyone enough what a great father we have, God has blessed us," she said.

Carselda also recalled trying to reach out to her entertainer brother when she discovered his existence at 19-years-old by her father.

"He was not even famous yet; he was a comedian and did a show called NewsRadio," she said.

Carselda said she researched him on the computer, emailing him to ask if he would meet with her and the father.

Rogan did respond, but she said he was not kind and called their dad "a sperm donor."

After that, she said she never emailed him again.

Wanting to prove that her father is innocent, DailyMail.com reported that Carselda made an Official Public Records Act (OPRA) request to confirm that Rogan Sr didn't have "a violent history."

The OPRA request revealed that the father didn't have anything "violent" in his records and that he was "a retired police lieutenant from Harrison, New Jersey, not Newark as Joe claims."

When asked why her half-brother would make these claims, Carselda said she believed that the age their father left him made him impressionable.

"My father and Joe junior's mom, now Susan Lembo, did not get along and separated. Joe's sister Laura is a year or so younger than him. My father would pick him up on Fridays and have him for the weekend," she said.

Joe Rogan's sister says he is wrong about their father being abusive Getty

Carselda also said she believes Rogan's sentiments may have stemmed from his mother's stories.

"Once they left without my father's knowledge, Joe junior called my father several times from San Francisco. He said he wanted to come home.

"My father said, 'Joe put your mom on the phone, I will send a plane ticket over to you.' The phone was hung up and my father never heard from his son again."

When asked if she, her sister, father and Rogan would ever chat or reconcile, she told Indy100: "If it were up to my father, sister, and I, the answer would be yes! But, this is just not up to us, and according to what Joe has said in the past, he has no interest in meeting my father or us."

Rogan Sr, 80, hopes to reconnect with his estranged son once and for all by speaking out.

In an interview with The US Sun, Rogan Sr said he hoped to have a relationship with his son despite the allegations.

"I'm on my way out. I'm 80 years old; I'm in the rearview mirror," he told the outlet.

"[I'd also like] my daughters to meet him, just to say hello and say how we feel..."

In an episode of Rogan's podcast, he told his listeners about remembering 'brief, violent flashes of domestic violence.'

'It's really weird. All my damage s*** came from my real father before I was seven. My real father was crazy; he was like a psychotic person. He beat the f*** out of my mother; he beat the f*** out of my cousin. He picked my cousin up by his hair, dude.

Rogan Sr rebuffed the claims to The US Sun that he had ever been violent, noting that if he was "a big bad wolf," why wasn't there "a restraining order" against him, and why did Rogan's mom keep the surname.

Speaking with Rolling Stone, Rogan claimed his father also promoted toxic behavior after punching his cousin in the face when he was five-year-old.

As his cousin's mom screamed to his parents that he was a "monster" for doing that, Rogan recalled his father taking him aside and saying: "'Did you cry?' I said, 'No.' He said, 'Good, don't ever cry."

With these claims, Rolling Stone reached out to Rogan Sr, who didn't respond directly to the allegations.

Indy100 reached out to Rogan's representative for comment via email.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Conversation (0)
x