- Travis Barker recounted being attracted to Kim Kardashian when they met before she became a reality star.
- Barker is currently married to Kardashian's sister, Kourtney Kardashian.
Before Travis Barker was married to Kourtney Kardashian Barker, he wrote in his 2015 memoir that he couldn't keep his eyes off of Kim Kardashian.
In the book, titled "Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums," Barker reflected on meeting Kim Kardashian while he was in an on-and-off relationship with Paris Hilton. Kardashian was working for Hilton as a closet organizer at the time, and Barker recounted that the pair flew to Amsterdam to see him on tour with his band +44.
Barker recounts in his memoir being enraptured by Kardashian as they traveled around Amsterdam with Hilton, his late assistant Chris "Lil Chris" Baker, and his drum tech Daniel.
"I kept on secretly checking out Kim, telling Lil Chris, 'I don't care if she's the closet girl, she's fucking hot,'" Barker wrote in the memoir.
Barker reiterated the same in interviews at the time, telling Us Weekly that he loved "curvy girls," calling Kardashian "eye candy" and saying that he "couldn't keep my eyes" off her.
Barker married Kardashian Barker, Kardashian's older sister, in 2022 over the course of several ceremonies culminating in a lush celebration in Portofino, Italy. The couple are now expecting their first child together. And on "The Kardashians," the family's current reality TV series, Kardashian and Kardashian Barker's feud once again came to a head over a disagreement related to Kardashian Barker's wedding.
Kardashian previously said she and Barker had been 'friends for years'
Barker recounts in his memoir that amid his regular splitting up and getting back together with his ex-wife Shanna Moakler, he began talking to Kardashian again. At the time, her sex tape had been leaked. She and her family were on the cusp of launching "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," and Barker gave her advice on reality TV stardom.
According to Barker, they then began to hang out, and were "really sweet around each other." Kardashian even appeared in ad campaigns for his clothing brand, Famous Stars & Straps, and Barker would visit Kardashian and her family at Dash, the now-shuttered clothing boutique they once owned.
"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," he wrote. "With Kim, I wanted to be nothing but a gentleman to her."
He and Kardashian didn't have a physical relationship, according to Barker. But Moakler claimed in an interview with Us Weekly in May 2021 that Barker had hooked up with Kardashian while the two of them were together. In the book, Barker writes that after starting to talk to Moakler again, he still wanted to see Kardashian, writing that Moakler threw a drink on Kardashian after learning about her relationship with Barker.
Kardashian has long denied ever having a physical relationship with Barker, writing in a Q&A on her Instagram story in May 2021 that they had been "friends for years" and that she was "happy for him and Kourt," People reported.