After his terrible suicide, Travis Barker’s former business partner’s mother opened up about her pain.
Rogue Status/DTA is a California-based company that was formed in 2005 by Canadian streetwear designer Johan “Yo” Esbensen.
The blink-182 drummer boasted in his memoir that the company made “between $4 million and $10 million” in its first year after he later brought in Travis as an investor and partner.
Don’t Trust Anyone is the name of the company, which was later dissolved, but Travis, 46, revived the moniker for a record label he launched in December 2019.
He was seen wearing a black DTA t-shirt this summer while out and about in Malibu with his 43-year-old wife Kourtney Kardashian.
According to information provided to The Sun by friends and family, Esbensen killed himself last year at the age of 45 after experiencing mental health issues and a failed relationship with a Victoria’s Secret model.
According to acquaintances, Travis was surprised by the passing and wrote a RIP statement for his ex-partner on social media.
It is the most recent tragedy to affect the musician after he was hurt critically and his assistant and security guard died in a plane crash in North Carolina in September 2008.
Additionally, both of the pilots perished, and less than a year after the tragedy, Travis’s best friend Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein, who had also been on the aircraft, passed away from an overdose while trying to deal with the aftermath.
Esbensen’s mother Cattis refuted a friend’s assertion that his business venture with Travis ultimately failed as the cause of his death in an interview with The Sun from her hometown of Ottawa.
“That wasn’t even at the top of his list. He gave me like 10 reasons in his journal that he wrote about and that was not it.
“Let’s talk about mental illness. Let’s talk about a lifetime of not feeling like you fit in with the rest of the world, like you were out of step with the rest of the world.
“Let’s talk about a failed relationship.
“I want to encourage people to reach out and don’t turn your backs on people.
“I would urge anyone to seek support if they feel that they have a need for mental health counselling.”
