After surviving a plane crash that killed two of his friends, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker was told by doctors that he’d likely never drum again and would need prescription drugs for life. He proved them wrong.
The 41-year-old, who suffered burns to more than 65 percent of his body from the 2008 crash, appeared on “The Doctors” Monday ahead of an upcoming world tour. He shared how he overcame both recreational and prescription drug use and got his life back.
“You are a survivor,” co-host Dr. Andrew Ordon told Barker, triggering the audience’s applause.
For 11 weeks, Barker was hospitalized for critical injuries, some of which required multiple skin grafts. At one point, so desperate for the pain to end, he had offered friends $1 million if they’d kill him.
One of the turning points for him, he said, was when the doctors told him that his life was likely to only get worse.
“The doctors said, ‘You’re probably going to be on most of these drugs for the rest of your life because you went through such a horrific experience, and you’re dealing with bipolar disorder. You’ll probably never play drums again, you’ll never run again,’” he recalled on the program this week.
“Then the challenge was in my mind just to prove them wrong,” he said. “I had to wean myself off of every drug, start playing the drums immediately, run, and then I became even healthier than I ever was before the plane accident.”
Prior to the crash, the rock star admitted that he lived a wild lifestyle, where he took recreational drugs and often smoked marijuana. With his doctor’s recommendation, the father of two stopped it all.
How does he get high now? Through exercise, he shared — which includes drumming every day for around five hours.
“I get a high off of boxing, and recording, recording music,” he said. “I’m healthier than I was when I was 20 years old. I’m 41 now and I’m 10 times healthier.”