Travis Barker is completely unique in a number of ways — including his rare traumatic experience surviving a deadly plane crash in 2008.
Plane crashes in general are so rare that few people can relate to the experience. Even more sad, there is no one left alive who shared the experience of that specific crash with the drummer. Four people died, including two of his close friends; a year later, his best friend DJ AM, the only other survivor, died of a drug overdose.
Related: Travis Gets Sad & Personal Tattoo Referencing Deadly Plane Crash
Speaking with Men’s Health, the Blink-182 alum reflected that he and the DJ (real name Adam Goldstein) “were each other’s therapists,” and following the crash, the pair couldn’t even find any support networks of other crash survivors. He shared:
“So it was just him and me. When he left, I was like, ‘Oh, f**k. I’m the only one in my club. It’s just me.’ And I find my ways to deal with it.”
The 45-year-old didn’t rely on drugs to “deal with it” — in fact, he took the opportunity to quit. Coming home from the hospital three months after the crash, he flushed all of his drugs, “including stuff that I really needed.” He shared:
“People are always like, ‘Did you go to rehab?’ 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.”
Travis suffered intense burns from the accident that required 26 surgeries and multiple skin grafts. Of his subsequent physical rehabilitation, he recalled:
“I was told I wasn’t going to run again because I had so many grafts on my feet, and there was even talk of me never playing the drums again. … As soon as I could walk, I could run. As soon as I could move my hands and my hands healed, I was playing drums. And now I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been.”
Mentally, though, he struggled with PTSD, explaining:
“I was dark. I 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 continued:
“It’s gotten better the further I get away from it. 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. That haunted me for a long time. And as long as I was closer to that than this good stuff, I was always thinking about that. Now it’s been so many years, it’s getting easier for me. There are days where I’ll wake up and never think about it.”
Beyond therapy, Kourtney Kardashian’s boyfriend recently began the “life changing” practice of breath work; he described the overwhelming effects as similar to “how some people shake before an orgasm.” Through the exercise, he felt that his soul “guided” him to his late mother; when it was over, he felt “like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest.” He remarked:
“You have to constantly practice it, letting go of the trauma. You know what I mean? Just to be like everyone else.”
With that in mind, Travis told the outlet that he will fly again someday — something he hasn’t done since the crash in 2008. He stated that he “[wants] to make the choice to try and overcome it.” There’s even a plan in place for someone close to him to surprise him with a flight someday. He reasoned:
“There’s a million things that could happen to me. I could die riding my skateboard. I could get in a car accident. I could get shot. Anything could happen. I could have a brain aneurysm and die. So why should I still be afraid of airplanes?”
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The father of two has his kids in mind with this particular goal:
“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 them], ‘Hey, I just flew here, and then I flew home. And everything was fine.’ I have to tell them, because I almost left them.”
And though he wishes things could have gone differently that day, he admitted he “can’t imagine it any other way, either.” He said:
“I have all the love I need in my house. It will never make sense why my friends are gone, or the pilots, but all I can do is carry on. I can’t regret anything. I’m 100 percent supposed to be here.”
Wow. What a deep and moving reflection. We’re also glad that Travis is here and has come so far in his healing journey.
[Image via FayesVision/WENN]
The post Travis Barker Gets Real About Being 'Haunted' By Near-Fatal Plane Crash — It Was His 'Wake-Up Call' appeared first on Perez Hilton.
