During episode #2435 of The Joe Rogan Experience, host Joe Rogan and guest Bradley Cooper shared candid reflections on how fatherhood fundamentally changed them as people.
Rogan expressed a profound sentiment about his experience as a father: “For me, I shudder at the thought of being who I am right now if I had no children.”
Cooper agreed, saying: “I don’t know if I’d be alive.”
Rogan continued: ” I would be different. That’s for sure. I wouldn’t be nearly as compassionate.”
He elaborated on how parenthood changed his fundamental capacity for emotion, recalling advice from comedian Dave Chappelle. He stated: “Dave Chappelle said something to me once that was brilliant. He said, ‘Not only have children changed the amount of love I have, he goes, it’s changed my capacity for love.'”
Cooper discussed having his daughter when he was in his early forties and how the timing proved fortuitous for his career and personal life.
“I’m so glad I had kids late because I’m 51. I just turned 51 a couple days ago… My daughter is eight, going to be nine in March. And I just got lucky that I was able to be in a place in my career that I could choose what I do and work from home, and just I’m just there through for all of it.”
The actor described fatherhood as providing constant moments of joy: “There’s like seven of those every day with your kid. We were eating dinner last night at a restaurant…and I’m just looking at her and little she got a little hat on and I was like,And I’m like, ‘Isn’t this the greatest thing in the world?’ And she’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s the greatest.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s it. This is it. It’s crazy. It’s like free jolts.'”
Both men discussed how becoming fathers altered their worldview. Rogan explained: “It also made me think of everyone as a baby. I used to think of people as static…But when I had children and raised children, you start saying, ‘Oh, this is a baby that became a person.’ And it’s just life experiences, genetics, environment, all these different factors. Here you are now, but you are a product of this path and this journey that you’ve taken through life. And I give people way more grace because of that.”
Cooper agreed, noting the universal difficulty of human existence. He stated, “Even people that are mean to me, it’s hard for me to stay mad at them.”
Rogan agreed, referencing a conversation with his wife: “My daughter was talking about some horrible story in the news of someone who messed up their whole life and all these different things. And my wife listens to her and goes, ‘It’s hard to be a person.'”
When pressed on what life would be like without children, Rogan stated: “I don’t think everyone should have children and I’m not that guy that says, ‘If you don’t have kids, you don’t have a life.’ I don’t believe that. Everybody’s different. And I think we all need to respect that.”
Cooper echoed the sentiment about personal transformation: “I would be different. That’s for sure.”
