Travis Barker marked a significant milestone.
On Wednesday, the Blink-182 drummer, 47, shared on his Threads account that he’s made big strides in overcoming his crippling fear of flying after his 2008 plane crash — and it’s all thanks to the love and support of his wife, Kourtney Kardashian.
“Just flew for the 30th time since my plane crash,” he wrote in the post he also shared on his Instagram Story, before paying tribute to Kardashian, with whom he’s currently expecting a baby boy.
“Wouldn’t be able to tour or enjoy life again the way I do without the healing love of my amazing wife. I love you @kourtneykardash,” he continued.
It was Kardashian who helped the musician board a plane again for the first time in 13 years after the crash, which killed four people and left Barker with third-degree burns on more than half of his body. In August 2021, the reality star was by her then-boyfriend’s side to support him as he flew to Cabo on Kylie Jenner’s private jet, joined by Kris Jenner and her boyfriend Corey Gamble.
“It’s a huge deal that Travis flew to Cabo. The plane crash many years ago was extremely traumatizing. He has needed a lot of help to get to this point,” a source told PEOPLE at the time. “Kourtney has been very supportive. She never pushed for him to fly. They have managed to travel in the U.S. without having to fly, and Kourtney has been totally fine with it.”
Several days after the momentous flight, Barker shouted out Kardashian for helping him conquer his fears. Alongside a photo of him kissing her in front of Kylie’s jet, he wrote, “With you anything is possible.” The Poosh founder later shared his post on her Instagram Story, adding, “Anything and everything with you.”
More than a decade ago, Barker and longtime collaborator DJ AM (Adam Michael Goldstein) survived after their plane crashed shortly after takeoff as they were leaving South Carolina, where they had just played a show. Goldstein died a year later from a prescription drug overdose.
The crash killed Barker’s security guard Charles “Che” Still, his assistant Chris Baker, pilot Sarah Lemmon and co-pilot James Bland.
After the tragedy, the rocker had a long road to recovery, both mentally and physically. He underwent several surgeries and skin grafts to heal from his extensive burns. Additionally, Barker dealt with weed and prescription drug use.
In May 2021, he revealed in an interview with Men’s Health that he made the decision to quit using drugs and flushed medicine — “including stuff that I really needed” — after Goldstein’s death and after his opioid tolerance started to rise with each surgery.
“People are always like, ‘Did you go to rehab?'” he told the outlet. “And I [say], ‘No, I was in a plane crash.’ That was my rehab. Lose three of your friends and almost die? That was my wake-up call. If I wasn’t in a crash, I would have probably never quit.”
In the same interview, Barker opened up about wanting to “make the choice to try and overcome [flying],” adding, “If I do it, and the angels above help me in my travels and keep me safe, I would like to come back and [tell my children], ‘Hey, I just flew here, and then I flew home. And everything was fine.’ I have to tell them, because I almost left them. That’s a perfect day.”
Barker also said that his fear of planes became so strong after the crash that he “couldn’t walk down the street.”
“If I saw a plane [in the sky], I was determined it was going to crash, and I just didn’t want to see it,” he said. “The closer I was to it, it felt like I was closer to the bad stuff than I am to the good stuff. I felt closer to the experience of trying to escape, [to] being in an accident and being burned, trying to grab my friends from a burning plane.”
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