Joe Rogan Experience #1227 - Mike Tyson

Tyson describes growing up around violence, drugs, and instability, and how shame and a desperate need for acceptance drove him to embrace Cus D’Amato’s “destroyer” identity, giving him world‑class results in the ring but chaos outside it.

Between Cus’s hypnosis and constant mental programming, Tyson built an identity around being a ferocious, unbeatable killer; he now sees that without a way to deactivate that mindset, it sent him to psych wards, prison, and emotional collapse.

Tyson calls his 5-MeO-DMT experience like “dying and being reborn,” saying it humbled him, made him feel part of the universe rather than its center, and significantly reduced his fear of death and attachment to his old persona.

Tyson admits he’s moody and “doesn’t like who I am sometimes” without weed; he uses cannabis to soften his temper, feel kinder and more stable, and sees it as a far healthier path than alcohol or hard drugs that once dominated his life.

He openly labels his old self “a sick fuck” and spends much of his adult life apologizing to his kids, emphasizing that you must regularly “check yourself” and be brutally honest about past behavior to grow beyond it.