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Travis Barker said years of friendship gave his relationship with Kourtney Kardashian a strong foundation
The Blink-182 drummer recalled feeling overwhelmed by love when their romance began in 2021
The pair married in 2022 and welcomed son Rocky in November 2023
When Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian fell in love after years of friendship, it was hard and fast.
The drummer, 50, opened up about falling for Kardashian, 47, on the Wednesday, Oct. 14 episode of Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, explaining that when their lives finally aligned in 2021, it was “a perfect symmetry.”
“When it happened, it was like a perfect symmetry from both of our sides,” he said. “Her friends would be like, ‘Oh, you and Trav.’ And she’d be like, ‘Ah yeah, I don’t know if that’ll ever happen.’ And people would say the same thing to me.”
He continued, “We both wanted it to happen and we knew if it did happen, it would probably be like neither of us would have a choice. We would just be overwhelmed with whatever and fall madly in love. And we did.”
The Blink-182 rocker emphasized that the pair had “such a strong foundation” after years of friendship, which was new for him when entering a relationship.
“I already loved her as a friend… I loved her for years,” he said. “It was someone that was always a friend, that I always thought about. I always was like, ‘Oh my God.'”
The pair tied the knot in 2022 with three different weddings, leading to a large blended family; Barker is dad to stepdaughter Atiana, 27, plus daughter Alabama, 20, and son Landon, 23, while Kardashian is mom to sons Mason, 16, and Reign, 11, and daughter Penelope, 14.
The couple’s son Rocky Thirteen will turn 3 in November.
“It happened when I was least expecting it — bam, just get hit with an abundance of love from someone,” Barker told PEOPLE in August of his bond with his wife. “I think the power of love is very strong and underestimated.”

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California in January 2024.
Credit: Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty
In an interview with The Times U.K., the musician said he’d been friends first with Kardashian’s sister Kim, whom he’d met through Paris Hilton. He later became friends with the Kardashian family when he moved to Calabasas.
Barker also revealed the text message that ultimately shifted the pair’s entire future, and pushed them out of the friend zone.
“I had offered a mutual guy friend some dating advice. I was just like, just have fun hooking up with girls. Think of it like a sport. Don’t try to get emotionally invested with everyone. Try to find your bearings,” he recalls. “And then Kourtney texted something like, ‘Why don’t you teach me how to find my bearings?’ I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ And I was scared because I thought, ‘I can’t mess this up, I can’t mess this up.'”
Read the original article on People