Travis Barker couldn’t help himself. In 2006, while broken up with now-former wife Shanna Moakler, the Blink-182 drummer started seeing Paris Hilton.

But he kept on secretly checking out Kim Kardashian, who was working as the heiress’ wardrobe organizer at the time. “I don’t care if she’s the closet girl, she’s  hot,’” Travis shared in his 2015 memoir, Can I Say. He called her “eye candy” and admitted they had a few meals together. “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 shared. “I wanted to be nothing but a gentleman to her.”

Now his words have come back to haunt him. In recent months, fans have flocked to TikTok to revisit what Travis, 47, wrote, and many suspect he is the root of the ongoing friction between Kim, 43, and sister Kourtney Kardashian, 44, whom Travis married in 2022. It hasn’t helped that in 2021, Shanna, 48, alleged that she “caught [Kim and Travis] having an affair,” despite his insistence he’d looked but “never touched” Kim. While speaking to The Los Angeles Times in late October, Travis dismissed all the chatter. “You give people a little information and they think they’ve solved the mystery of ‘This is why they’re fighting.’ It’s just so ridiculous,” he said. “That’s [my wife’s] sister. She knows [Kim and I] used to talk. Nothing bad was going on.”

Trusting Travis

Kourtney believes Travis, says the source. “Despite all the gossip, she says she doesn’t for a second think that Travis slept with Kim. Kourtney wasn’t involved with Travis at the time, but both he and Kim would have told Kourtney the truth if they had hooked up. Of course, Kourtney may say she trusts Travis implicitly, but deep down, who knows how she really feels. What woman wouldn’t wonder….”.

So why are Kim and Kourtney feuding? It actually has nothing to do with Travis, contends the source. On their reality show, The Kardashians, earlier this year, Kourtney accused Kim of going behind her back to curate a Dolce & Gabbana fashion collection just a few months after the brand designed the looks for Kourtney and Travis’ wedding. Kourtney branded her sister a “witch” and an “egotistical narcissist” who used the nuptials as a “business opportunity.”

End of story, right? Not quite. “When Kourtney, Kim and Travis are in the same room now, things get very tense, and everyone walks on eggshells,” says the source. “Travis is just hoping it all blows over. But his words are right there in print, and Shanna always likes to stir the pot. Honestly, with all her health problems lately, this scandal is the last thing Kourtney needed in the days leading up to the birth of her and Travis’ child.”