The world was captivated by the whirlwind romance between Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian, but before they solidified their “forever” with a lavish Italian wedding, a different kind of spark ignited between Barker and Kourtney’s sister, Kim Kardashian.
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While the story of Travis and Kourtney is well-documented, their connection with Kim is a lesser-known chapter, revealing a fascinating glimpse into their lives before they found their respective happily ever afters.
A Twist of Fate: The Spark That Never Quite Caught Fire
Travis Barker says it’s ‘ridiculous’ to think Kim and Kourtney Kardashian are fighting over him
In an alternate universe, did Travis Barker end up with Kim Kardashian instead of her sister, Kourtney Kardashian?
As the sisters’ feud plays out on “The Kardashians,” fans are poring over archives — including Barker’s memoir, which details his, according to one fan, “strong attraction” to Kim Kardashian.
“All their problems just made sense,” one user wrote on X.
In the 2015 memoir “Can I Say,” the Blink-182 drummer, who is married to and expecting a child with Kourtney Kardashian, revealed that he also had a connection with her younger sister Kim Kardashian.
TODAY.com previously reached out to Kim Kardashian, Kourtney Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Shanna Moakler for comment and did not hear back.
Barker recently opened up about the revelation in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, telling fans of his wife, Kourtney Kardashian, to “stop.”
“It’s like, ‘Kourtney’s fans are worried about Travis. He’s a womanizer.’ Stop it,” Barker said. “I obviously shared all that stuff because I wanted to move past it. It was therapeutic for me.”
Barker went on to say allegations that his history with Kim Kardashian explains the sisters’ fight is “so ridiculous.”
“That’s her sister. She knows we used to talk. Nothing bad was going on. You give people a little information and they think they’ve solved the mystery of ‘this is why they’re fighting.’ It’s just so ridiculous,” he said.
According to the outlet, Barker says his wife does not hold “any ill will over the relationship” with Kim Kardashian.
Barker first met Kim Kardashian when he was dating Paris Hilton, who flew out to the rock band’s tour show in Amsterdam and brought Kim Kardashian along, per the memoir.
“Kim used to organize people’s closets, and at the time, she was working as Paris’s closet girl,” he wrote in the memoir. “She would grab Paris’s bags, put them in the closet, unpack them, put everything where Paris could find it.”
Barker then said he, Hilton, Kim Kardashian and others rented bicycles and rode “all over Amsterdam.” While on their ride, he said they “all got high as a kite at a coffee shop,” then made their way to the Absinthe Bar and the iconic red-light district.
“I kept on secretly checking out Kim, telling Lil Chris, ‘I don’t care if she’s the closet girl, she’s f—— hot,’” he wrote.
Barker explained that he and Kim Kardashian stayed in touch after Amsterdam, but after being back in Los Angeles, he was busy struggling to heal from a broken arm before rounding out Blink-182’s European tour. He wound up back on a plane to Europe and “was on more drugs than ever before: Oxycontin, weed, and now booze.”
But the guilt settled in and Barker said he was “in a dark place,” one that left him asking, “Who was I — a father or a rock star?” He went home at the time to care for his two kids, Landon and Alabama, both of whom he shares with ex-wife Shanna Moakler.
Once back in California, Barker said he bought a house for the family before he and Moakler split in 2008. The singer explains his post-breakup love life in the book, which includes a detour with Kim Kardashian.
“When I was having some time off with Shanna, I started talking with Kim Kardashian,” he said.
Barker said Kim Kardashian’s sex tape had just been released, and she had recently broken up with Ray J. The now 43-year-old told him that she was in the initial stages of planning a reality show for her family. “I respected her hustle,” he wrote.
The two then started “hanging out,” getting lunch and dinner together, as Barker described in his memoir.
“You might think I would be doing the worst things with this girl because of her tapes, but it was the exact opposite of any other encounter I’ve had with a woman: with Kim, I wanted to be nothing but a gentleman to her,” he wrote. “It was so weird.”
Barker detailed their time together: using her in ads for his company, swimming at his house, watching Fourth of July fireworks together, visiting Kim Kardashian and her family at their clothing store.
“We’d be really sweet around each other, like little kids, and then when we were apart, she’d call me and say, ‘I want to see you again,’” he wrote, adding that he’d respond, “‘Me too.’”
But Barker and Kim Kardashian remained platonic.
“Kim and I never touched each other,” he wrote. “It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Moakler disputes Barker saying nothing physical happened between him and Kim Kardashian, according to The LA Times. TODAY.com has reached out to Moakler for comment and not yet heard back.
Years later in 2020, Barker asked Kourtney Kardashian, now 44, out to a movie, she explained on “The Kardashians,” though the older sister had been interested in the drummer “long before they started dating.”
In February 2021, the two became Instagram official with Kourtney Kardashian sharing a photo of the couple holding hands in the car. Barker then shared the image on his story with a heart.
Kourtney Kardashian recounted their first kiss in “The Kardashians,” which arose during a movie night in 2020. In the same episode, Kim Kardashian commented on the relationship, saying, “Kourtney has just been in this amazing relationship. It’s like first time I’ve seen her happy. I’m so happy for this win for her — she really deserves it,” Kim said.
Barker proposed eight months after their Instagram debut, in October 2021. The two were married in May 2022. In June, Kourtney Kardashian announced her pregnancy at Barker’s Blink-182 concert, holding up a sign from the crowd that read, “Travis I’m pregnant.”
