Travis Barker Reflects on His Health & Doctor’s Ominous Warning

Getty

Travis Barker admitted to health issues on an episode of the “Big Bro with Kid Cudi” podcast on Wednesday, November 11. The musician revealed that after years of smoking, a serious health warning was the reason he finally quit.

Travis Barker Shares Doctor’s Warning  

Barker opened up about a diagnosis that served as a wake-up call. “I only quit because I got diagnosed with precancer of the esophagus,” he said. “I loved blunts, and I would smoke too much.”

He recalled asking a friend, who is also a physician, if this diagnosis was serious, and he was informed: “This is your warning shot, Trav. Don’t (expletive) around. You gotta stop smoking.” Barker admitted that had he not received the warning from a medical professional, he likely never would have stopped, and he could have been “like Willie Nelson and smoke to the day I die, you know?” Nelson stopped smoking in 2019 due to breathing difficulties and lung issues. He was 86 at the time. 

Travis Barker Reflects on Health Struggles

This is not the first time that Barker has spoken about his health, and in a 2021 interview with Men’s Health, he admitted that he used an “excessive amount of weed” and had a painkiller habit which stemmed from his fear of flying. “In the hospital, he frequently came to during surgeries because his opioid tolerance was so high. By the time he got out, he’d had enough. He flushed all the medications he’d been sent home with down the toilet,” the publication writes.

Barker’s life has changed immensely, and he has made positive transformations for his well-being. “People are always like, ‘Did you go to rehab?’” he told the publication. “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 Fatal Plane Crash

The plane crash Barker is referring to happened in September 2008, when the private plane crashed during takeoff and killed four people. The victims were Barker’s assistant Chris “Lil Chris” Baker, his bodyguard Charles “Che” Still, and co-pilots Sarah Lemmon and James Bland, People reports. The drummer and his friend Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein were the only survivors. Barker waited 13 years before flying again.

Barker admitted to having a bad feeling ahead of the trip. In August 2026, he appeared on Jay Shetty’s podcast and recalled the day before the crash. “I say bye to Bama; she’s young at the time,” he said of his daughter Alabama Barker, People reports. “She’s like, ‘Dad, don’t go!’ She’s bawling, and she doesn’t usually do that. She’s like, ‘The roof’s gonna come off,’ and I’m like, ‘What is she talking about?’”

Barker recalled how he “got on the plane, but I knew something feels off. I even told my dad, ‘If something happens to me, please make sure the kids are taken care of.’ I was saying way too much. All the signs were there.”