Travis Barker reflected on his past opioids abuse and detailed how he pushed himself to be sober.
In the past years, Travis Barker proudly told his story about how he successfully reevaluated his life. Years after he stopped depending on opioids, he talked about how the plane crash in September 2008 pushed him to get sober.
Over a decade ago, Barker rode on a plane that killed his close friends, Chris Baker and Charles Still, and the two pilots. Meanwhile, he and his friend Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein were the only survivors of the accident.
During that time, the plane’s tires ruptured upon take-off as they tried to get back home from South Carolina.
How the plane crash changed Travis Barker’s life
In an interview with Men’s Health, Barker revealed that some people alleged that he admitted himself to rehab. However, he made the changes on himself differently.
“[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,” he revealed.
Although he survived, he spent almost 11 weeks in the hospital. His opioid tolerance also caused him to wake up during surgeries. Meanwhile, his body suffered from burns that over 60 percent of it got injured.
The incident led him to receive over 26 surgeries and several skin grafts. What happened to him also made him relearn how to walk. He even heard he might not be able to run again due to the grafts. What was worst is that he almost got banned from 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,” he went on.
Barker still suffers from PTSD
The 45-year-old drummer is well and fine now. Still, he noted that he still suffers from PTSD as the plane crash brought darkness into his life.
In the same interview, he shared that he sought therapy to help him overcome his survivor’s guilt. He narrated how he tried to save his friends but failed, and that thought kept on hunting him in the following months.
After all these years, he finally found some light after starting a new relationship with Kourtney Kardashian.
Featured image courtesy of U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class Denny Lester., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons