Joe Rogan’s Colorado move due to health reasons—”blame it on my wife”

Joe Rogan has said that the reason he and his family moved around Colorado—before leaving altogether—was because his wife was pregnant.

Rogan tied the knot with former model Jessica Ditzel in 2009, whom the podcaster shares two teenage daughters with—Lola and Rosy. He also adopted Ditzel’s daughter, Kayja Rose—whose father is reportedly the late singer Keven “Dino” Conner—the same year.

The UFC commentator is known for sharing his opinions on his popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, whether it’s his concerns with social media or mocking Jill Biden for supporting President Joe Biden, but Rogan usually keeps quiet about his personal life. However, during Thursday’s episode of his show, the 56-year-old spoke with comedian Sam Tallent about his decision to move from Denver, Colorado.

Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Rogan for comment Tuesday.

“Colorado had a shot at you, man,” Tallent said before Rogan asked him: “Did it?”

Tallent continued: “I remember when that happened, when you moved up to Boulder for a minute.”

“Blame it on my wife; she got pregnant. When she got pregnant, we had to go back but yeah, I was planning on just going Buck Wild in Denver. That’s—that was my plan,” Rogan responded.

Tallent said it would have been valuable to Denver to have Rogan in that city, before Rogan added: “Well, we could always do a Mothership there one day.” This refers to Comedy Mothership, which is Rogan’s comedy club and bar that he opened in Austin, Texas.

In 2008, Rogan and Ditzel moved to Gold Hill, Colorado, but eventually decided to move from Colorado altogether. They returned to Southern California four months later when Ditzel found out that she was pregnant. During a previous episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan told guest Dan Carlin that they left Colorado because of its high elevation.

“I was there for four months. We planned on living there for a year, then maybe permanently. But, along the way, my wife got pregnant and we were at 8,500 feet above sea level. And it was just, it’s brutal,” Rogan said.

“They say that Colorado in general, like around the Denver area, has a very high rate of premature births and low birth weight because of the lack of oxygen.”

The family settled down in Bell Canyon, California, for several years before they decided to purchase a home on Lake Austin in Austin, Texas in 2020.

Rogan has previously spoken about the family’s eventual decision to move to Texas. During his appearance on the Oil and Whiskey podcast, Rogan was asked why he decided to leave California.

“You know, I was, like, a lot of my friends were very skeptical because I was saying early on in the pandemic, I’m like getting the f*** out of here. I mean this place is going to s***. And they’re, like, ‘It’ll be fine. It’s gonna turn around; it’s just everything’s crazy right now,’” he said.

“I go ‘Things don’t get better, man. They don’t get better under this government. They don’t get better under these people. Like, they’re clamping down on rights, they’re clamping down on our ability to do things.’ I’m like ‘I’m gonna get the f*** out of here.’”

Rogan also revealed how happy he was with the decision to move, saying: “Austin is a f****** great town! The people are cool as hell; the food’s amazing; and it’s a great live music scene. It’s just a great place to live and for comedians.”