Travis Barker Opens Up About Dealing With PTSD After Plane Crash: ‘I Was Dark’

Travis Barker has opened up about his post-traumatic stress disorder following a near-fatal plane crash in 2008.

"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," the 45-year-old musician told Men's Health Magazine on Monday.

At that time, Barker was on his way home after a show in South Carolina with his friend, DJ AM, when the tires of their plane blew up during takeoff. The crash killed assistant Chris Baker, security guard Charles Still, and the two pilots.

Though Barker and Goldstein were able to escape the plane crash, the drummer was left with third-degree burns on 65 percent of his body, forcing him to undergo 26 surgeries and several skin grafts. Goldstein died one year later from an accidental drug overdose.

During the interview, Barker said that time and therapy have helped him deal with the trauma. "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," he said. "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," he added. "Now it's been so many years, it's getting easier for me…."

Before the crash, Barker was already dealing with an addiction to prescription drugs. Calling the accident a “wake-up call,” the musician said that cheating death motivated him to start living a healthier lifestyle and stop abusing prescription painkillers.

"People are always like, ‘Did you go to rehab?’" Barker said. "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."

The musician said he hasn't been on a plane since the crash but he hopes to change that one day, sharing that he'd like overcome his fear.

On the work front, Barker released "Hollywood Sucks" music album with singer KennyHoopla earlier this month.