Travis Barker has opened up about the horrific injuries he suffered in a 2008 plane crash, recalling: “I broke all of my ribs. Fractured my back in four different places... 65% of my body was burned.”
The 50-year-old Blink-182 drummer was a passenger on a private jet that crashed during takeoff from an airport in South Carolina on September 19, 2008. Four of the six people onboard died in the crash, including both pilots, Barker’s security guard, Charles Still and his personal assistant, Chris Baker.
In the aftermath, doctors feared for Barker’s life due to the extensive third-degree burns he suffered while escaping from the fiery wreckage.
“My brain wasn’t functioning. I was on morphine and all sorts of medicine, so I didn’t really understand the severity of it all,” says Barker in the new Hulu documentary Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear.
He adds: “They couldn’t do any more surgeries and I was low on blood. There was talk of amputating my foot.”
Barker spent over three months in hospital, undergoing 27 surgeries and multiple skin grafts.
“I was in a lot of pain,” the musician recalls. “They couldn’t get my pain management right, so I was freaking out.”
The only other survivor of the crash was Adam Goldstein, known as DJ AM, who died a year later following an accidental drug overdose.
Reflecting on the accident, Barker says: “Throughout years of grief and trauma, and trying to figure out how and why everything happens, what I’ve learned is that life’s just not for certain. Every day I open my eyes, I’m reminded of walking away from a plane crash where four people passed away. Then AM passing away less than a year later. But I’ve also accepted who I am now... I think I’ve figured out a way to carry on and live my best in their memory.”
Later in the documentary, Barker explains how, with the help of his now-wife Kourtney Kardashian, he was able to get back on board a plane after years of refusing to fly or let his children fly following the accident.
“I had this force within me that I didn’t want to be restricted by anything anymore,” he says. “There’s nothing that’s going to have power over me.”
He adds: “I just knew, if I could do this, I could do it not just for myself but also for my children, and they could overcome it.”
Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear streams on Hulu from Thursday, August 13.
