How Travis Barker Described Kim Kardashian Relationship Before Romance With Kourtney

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How Travis Barker Described Kim Kardashian Relationship Before Romance With Kourtney

All in the family! Travis Barker has been in a happy relationship with Kourtney Kardashian since late 2020, but she wasn't the first member of the family he became close to. More than a decade before, he was dating Paris Hilton and bonded with Kim Kardashian, who was working as Hilton's assistant at the time. While the pair had a flirty relationship, nothing physical ever happened between Kim and Barker — despite claims made by his ex-wife, Shanna Moakler. Earlier this month, Barker and Moakler's daughter, Alabama, shared an alleged text message sent by her mother that claimed Barker cheated on her with Kim. "I divorced Travis because I caught him having an affair with Kim! Now he’s in love with her sister," the alleged text read. "It’s all gross…I’m not the bad guy!" [jwplayer jZ4qloyG] So, what exactly was the Blink-182 star's relationship with the KKW Beauty founder? Well, a close friendship at most, which took place before Keeping Up With the Kardashians launched in 2007. "She wanted to do a reality show because she thought her family was interesting, and obviously she was right," he wrote in his 2015 memoir, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums. "I respected her hustle. She was meeting with Ryan Seacrest, and she wanted to know what doing a show was like." Barker, who had filmed Meet the Barkers with Moakler in 2005 before their split, gave her advice, writing, "'It's hectic,' I told her, 'You have no privacy. It's not just you and your family in the house. It's really personal, and it can be really f--ked up.'" That said, he also had a crush. Scroll down for everything Barker said about the Selfish author through the years: [podcast_block]

Credit: Invision/AP/Shutterstock; Evan Agostini/Invision/AP/Shutterstock; AFF-USA/Shutterstock

How Travis Barker Described Kim Kardashian Relationship Before Romance With Kourtney

All in the family! Travis Barker has been in a happy relationship with Kourtney Kardashian since late 2020, but she wasn't the first member of the family he became close to. More than a decade before, he was dating Paris Hilton and bonded with Kim Kardashian, who was working as Hilton's assistant at the time. While the pair had a flirty relationship, nothing physical ever happened between Kim and Barker — despite claims made by his ex-wife, Shanna Moakler. Earlier this month, Barker and Moakler's daughter, Alabama, shared an alleged text message sent by her mother that claimed Barker cheated on her with Kim. "I divorced Travis because I caught him having an affair with Kim! Now he’s in love with her sister," the alleged text read. "It’s all gross…I’m not the bad guy!" [jwplayer jZ4qloyG] So, what exactly was the Blink-182 star's relationship with the KKW Beauty founder? Well, a close friendship at most, which took place before Keeping Up With the Kardashians launched in 2007. "She wanted to do a reality show because she thought her family was interesting, and obviously she was right," he wrote in his 2015 memoir, Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums. "I respected her hustle. She was meeting with Ryan Seacrest, and she wanted to know what doing a show was like." Barker, who had filmed Meet the Barkers with Moakler in 2005 before their split, gave her advice, writing, "'It's hectic,' I told her, 'You have no privacy. It's not just you and your family in the house. It's really personal, and it can be really f--ked up.'" That said, he also had a crush. Scroll down for everything Barker said about the Selfish author through the years: [podcast_block]

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She's Hot

In his book, the "Can a Drummer Get Some" artist detailed an Amsterdam trip with the Simple Life star and Kim, who he referred to as "Paris' closet girl."

He wrote, "We all checked into our hotel and then rented bicycles and rode all over Amsterdam — that's what you do there. It was me, Lil Chris, my drum tech Daniel, Paris, and Kim. We all got high as a kite at a coffee shop. Then we rode over to the Absinthe Bar, and then the red-light district. ... I was having a blast and was happy to let the world know it. I kept on secretly checking out Kim, telling Lil Chris, 'I don't care if she's the closet girl, she's f--king hot.'"

In 2015, the musician exclusively told Us about the attraction. "How could you not stare at Kim? Mind you, I enjoyed hanging out with Paris, but I love curvy girls," he said at the time. “Kim was eye candy. I was in no way disrespectful to Paris, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off Kim."

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Staying in Touch

The Transplants member explained that after he broke up with Hilton — and briefly reunited and split again from Moakler — he "started talking" to the Skims founder shortly after her sex tape with Ray J was released in 2007.

"We had stayed in touch after Amsterdam, and she did some modeling for Famous. I hired Estevan Oriol to shoot a whole ad campaign of her in bathing suits. Kim's tape had come out and she had broken up with Ray J," he wrote in his book. "We went to dinner, we went to lunch. 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. It was so weird. We were around each other a lot. We used her in ad campaigns for Famous. She came to my house and went swimming. We watched the Fourth of July fireworks together. I'd go visit her 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.' 'Me too,' I'd say."

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A Reunion With Shanna

Barker revealed that he reunited with his ex-wife one more time but "really wanted to see Kim." This ultimately led to a run-in.

"Shanna caught wind of what was going on. She poured a drink on Kim at a party thrown by Carmen Electra. I felt terrible," he claimed in his book. "Kim and I never touched each other. It just wasn't meant to be."

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No Awkwardness

“I had a crush on her and we were flirtatious but nothing ever happened. She was so kind and polite, I just felt like being a perfect gentleman around her. It was a trip," he told Us in 2015. "When I see her, I give her a hug and wish her the best and there’s no awkwardness. Because God knows, when you hook up, s–t gets awkward!"