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This is quite the wakeup call!
Blink-182 rock star Travis Barker used to be a huge stoner, but one day a conversation with his doctor changed everything.
On this week’s episode of Kid Cudi‘s podcast, Big Bro with Kid Cudi, the 50-year-old drummer reveals what diagnosis he received that made him want to quit marijuana right then and there :
“I got diagnosed with precancer of the esophagus. I loved blunts, and I would smoke too much. So that was the only thing. My doctor was like, ‘This is your warning shot, Trav. Don’t f**k around. You gotta stop smoking.’ Or I would have never stopped. I thought I could be like Willie Nelson and smoke ‘til the day I died. Willie Nelson was kind of the benchmark. I knew he had a bowl with a bunch of joints, but mine were blunts. I was the same way, smoking 10 to 15 blunts a day. I don’t even know if I was getting high anymore.”
Whew, that’s scary!
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, being precancerous in the esophagus can be determined when “the cells in the lining of your food pipe have changed in appearance or growth pattern, making them more likely to turn into esophageal cancer over time.” Along with smoking, having GERD or gastroesophageal reflux disease is another risk factor. Drinking and obesity are also listed.
Prior to quitting weed, Kourtney Kardashian‘s husband had also smoked cigarettes. He was only able to give those up after seeing a hypnotist:
“[The hypnotist] was like, ‘Smoke in the mirror. Chain-smoke in the mirror.’ He was just throwing wild things out there. So I went and chain-smoked in front of the mirror, to the point where, after a few cigarettes, you’re telling yourself, ‘I hate this. I hate the way I feel. I actually feel terrible right now. I feel lightheaded, I feel nauseous,’ whatever. And I just kept smoking. I watched myself in the mirror, going from thinking, ‘Oh, how cool. How cool do I look?’ to thinking, ‘I’m lighting something on fire, breathing it in, and it’s killing me. I’m getting nothing out of it. It’s actually killing me and taking my money.’ After I did that, I got in the car. I was at a hotel, and I threw my cigarettes and lighter out of the car. I made myself so nauseous and disgusted with myself. Seeing that, I felt like I was almost a fiend, sucking on this cigarette that was on fire, killing me, and getting absolutely nothing out of it.”
That’s actually a really smart exercise to try for anyone wanting to drop the cigs! Glad it worked for him.
Sometimes bad habits die hard, and in other cases, they come back, but for Travis, he says becoming a father and picking up fitness have kept his mind in the right headspace to not turn back.
Related: Avril Lavigne Is A Mom Now!
Landon, Alabama, and Rocky Barker‘s dad explained:
“I started boxing, learning how to jump rope. I just wanted to be a better human. 20 years later, a couple of miles a day keep the demons away. It really helped me stay sober. You can’t run half a marathon if you’re doing drugs.”
So glad to hear it! Rooting for you, Trav! Never go back!!
Watch the full episode (below):
[Image via YouTube/Big Bro with Kid Cudi.]