Today, there are arguably no bigger stars within the reality TV realm than the Kardashian-Jenner family. The famous brood gold when Keeping Up with the Kardashians debuted on E! in 2007, and they’re now crushing the streaming circuit with The Kardashians (accessible with a Hulu subscription). But before the group ever reached the small screen, the landscape consisted of reality stars like Travis Barker, who co-headlined a series of his own. The star, who’s currently engaged to Kourtney Kardashian, recently reflected on his stint and revealed the advice he once gave to Kim Kardashian ahead of her family’s show.
In the early 2000s, Travis Barker starred on MTV’s Meet the Barkers alongside then-wife Shanna Moakler, their two kids, Alabama and Landon, and Moakler’s daughter, Atiana De Le Hoya. The series, which premiered in 2005, chronicled the daily ups and downs of the Blink-182 drummer's clan and made for some entertaining television. Filming such a show can be interesting and somewhat tiring for the subjects themselves. Looking back on the experience, Barker believes that things were a little too strenuous, as he noted that there were nearly 50 cameras at the ready to capture his family’s activities. He added:
It was unapologetically real. They were living next door to us in trailers in a dirt lot. On call 24/7. If they knew we were up, they were filming us.
The vast amount of cameras on the premises wasn’t what made the Blink-182 drummer stop the series, though. He further explained to Vanity Fair that he chose to end things after the producers allegedly tried to persuade him to prefabricate drama for the show. Since this didn’t sit well with the star, Meet the Barkers ended its run in 2006 after two seasons and a total of 16 episodes.
Though the experience didn’t seem to pan out the way Travis Barker had hoped, it did come with an invaluable lesson, one that he was able to pass on. Before KUWTK and years before she would reach billionaire status, Kim Kardashian, a longtime friend and neighbor of Barker’s, came to him for advice before she and her family signed their life changing deal with E!. The rocker said that she should go for it, on one condition:
I said, as long as you have nothing to hide with your family and you want to put it all out there, do it. It’s wild to think what it has become.
And the rest is TV history. One has to wonder whether Kim Kardashian would’ve reconsidered the reality TV route had he not given her that piece of advice. While it can’t be said for sure, it’s possible that she may have been turned off from it had he been more negative. And the rockstar’s words of wisdom are very ironic now, given the way things have panned out for him.
Travis Barker and his kids play a role on Kourtney Kardashian and her family’s new streaming series and, if or when he and his fiancée (legally) tie the knot, their role could grow. (Don’t expect ex-wife Shanna Moakler to tune in to watch him or their kids, though.) All in all, it seems Barker has found a reality TV situation he’s more comfortable with, and the fact that he’s now doing it alongside Kourtney, Kim and co. makes for a true full-circle moment.
You can watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians in its entirety by grabbing a Peacock Premium subscription and check out new episodes of The Kardashians when they arrive on Thursdays on Hulu.
