TwitterTravis Barker has been to hell and back.
In an interview that aired on Good Morning America Tuesday, the Blink-182 drummer recalled how he and DJ AM were the only survivors when a Learjet taking them to California crashed on takeoff in Columbia, S.C., in September 2008. The two pilots, as well as Travis's security guard and assistant were all killed in the crash. DJ AM died in 2009 of an apparent drug overdose.
Travis said the pain he felt during and after the crash was "like hell."
"The plane's on fire and my hands are on fire so I unbuckle my seat belt and I jump right into the jet, which holds all the fuel. I basically ignite my whole body in fire. I'm so soaked in jet fuel, there's nothing I can do to put the fire out." Describing the scene, the 39-year-old rocker said, "I'm completely nude at this point...I'm running, grabbing my testicles, my genitals, because, I don't know why, and then we realize, you know, we're out of the plane and...the plane explodes."
NOW ON @GMA: Blink-182's @travisbarker recounts death wishes after plane crash. pic.twitter.com/yEl0YIkIlv
? Good Morning America (@GMA) October 20, 2015More than 65 percent of Travis's body was severely burned.
Travis spent four months in burn centers and he underwent 27 surgeries. During his recovery, he tried to pay his friends $1 million to take his life. "I mean, they had to take my phone out of my room because I was making these phone calls," Travis revealed. "I would call friends of mine and go, 'You know, I'll deposit a million dollars into whoever's bank account. Like, I'm done.'"
In his new memoir, Can I Say, Travis writes that it was Landon Barker and Alabama Barker, his two children with ex-wife Shanna Moakler, who helped him find strength. Still, the rocker fought back tears as he described that time period. "It was just hard for them to see me in the state that I was in, like, you know, they color in class and…everyone's drawing pictures of their family or what they did on the weekend and Landon's drawing a picture of a plane crashing," he said. "I mean it was definitely something that, I mean, he was old enough to understand."
Travis said he has not been on a plane since the 2008 crash.
In fact, the only way he will ever fly again is at his kids' request.
"I tell my children, 'When you're ready to fly, I'm ready to fly.' So, if my son came to me and said, 'Dad, let's fly to Hawaii,' or, 'Dad, let's go to Australia,' I'm in Australia," the "All the Small Things" rocker told ABC News' Chris Connelly, explaining, "I don't want it to be a handicap for them, and I dread it. You know, I lose sleep over it, but if and when they say they want to do it, I'm going to do it."