Famous Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker suffered a tremendous tragedy in 2008 when he was involved in a fiery plane crash that left him physically and mentally scarred and four other people dead. Another survivor of the plane crash was DJ AM, Barker’s longtime best friend who, sadly, died a year later. And in a new interview, Barker opens up about the impact of losing his close friend.
In a short clip from an upcoming segment of “The Real,” which will air today, Barker opened up about AM, who became addicted to drugs for a second time after the crash and died from a drug overdose. Barker explains that he also had a drug problem and that AM inspired him to get sober.
“You know the crazy thing is, one of the last things he said to me was, uh … it was after a show. We had just played Coachella, we were playing our residency in Vegas, and, you know, this guy had 12 years sober under his belt. He’s one of the reasons I got sober,” Barker said.
“And, um, he was just one of those people that were in your life that just made you want to be a better person. Anytime he was negative, I didn’t really think much ’cause I just knew how strong he was and I knew he had 12 years under his belt, but one of the last things he said to me was, you know, ‘I feel like doing a bunch of drugs and saying [expletive] it.’ ”
It’s truly tragic that AM succumbed to his addiction, but we’re glad that Barker was able to pull wisdom from that tragedy and clean his life up before it was too late.
Check your local listings to see what time “The Real” airs in your area.
