Everyone who has ever suffered from addiction and beaten it has almost always had a profound wake-up call. There’s a moment in our lives where we don’t want to struggle with the things that slowly kill us. For Travis Barker, that moment happened after he nearly died in a fatal plane crash in 2008. The incident caused four people to pass away, while the iconic drummer and Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein survived with intense burns.
Admittedly, the plane crash kept him horrified from flying again for 13 years. But his near-death experience did help him realize he “never wanted to touch a drug again.” In an interview with the Associated Press, Travis Barker recalled his intense nerves about flying. Consequently, he found drugs were the only efficient way to calm him down. Additionally, he admitted that being away from his kids also screwed with his nervous system.
“I have no clue where that even comes from except for flying when I was a kid and I was with my mom and I saw her terrified,” Barker told the publication. “I don’t know if that really had an effect on me or what it was. But my drug use started from first being able to get on planes because they scared me so much. Then to not only being afraid of flying, but I had to leave my children for long periods of time to go on tour.”
Travis Barker Candidly Opens up About His Drug Addiction and Fear of Flying
Then, the drug habit became a full-blown addiction. It wasn’t until he had to endure dozens of surgeries and was placed on morphine that he realized he never wanted to be so low again.
“Instead of ever going to rehab or quitting, I got into a plane accident where I nearly lost everything and I was in a burn center for six months on morphine and I had 30 surgeries,” Travis Barker added. “70 percent of my body was burnt and I never wanted to touch a drug again in my life. So, I don’t know if that didn’t happen to me if I would still be using drugs in some way, shape, or form. But that was my wake-up call. That was my rehab.”
The aftermath was particularly difficult for Travis Barker. DJ AM was the only one he felt like he could confide in for a long time. However, once he died from a drug overdose, he vowed to never fly again. It wasn’t until his wife, Kourtney Kardashian, finally convinced the Blink-182 legend to try again. Nowadays, flights and turbulence don’t bother him anymore.
(Photo by Gary Gershoff/WireImage)
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