[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Travis Barker has been secretly coping with the lack of his former enterprise associate over the previous yr after he took his personal life.
In case you didn’t know, streetwear designer Johan “Yo” Esbensen based the California-based clothes model Rogue Status/DTA in 2005 and later introduced on the Blink-182 drummer as an investor and associate. While the enterprise shut down at one level, Travis ended up bringing again the DTA identify – which stands for Don’t Trust Anyone – for a report label he created in December 2019. However, he did so with out Johan by his facet. Oof. Now, The Sun revealed on Wednesday that the style designer sadly died by suicide at 45 final yr — one thing, pals shared with the outlet , that utterly shocked Travis though they seemingly weren’t shut anymore.
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And whereas it sounds just like the pair had been on the outs over the enterprise, Johan’s mother Cattis Esbensen fired again on the declare to the outlet that the failure of their firm was what led to his demise. She stated:
“It was not a business thing. 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 counseling.”
Although Cattis shut down that the enterprise had something to do along with his demise, the 70-year-old famous that Johan and Travis have been not shut after her son was not concerned within the new enterprise of DTA. She defined:
“Johan moved back to Canada in 2019. He left LA and that whole scene probably in around 2014. He could not stomach LA. (After that) he did not have anything to do with Travis Barker. He lived in Ojai for a while and because of other circumstances, he decided to return to Canada. I don’t want to say anything about the way it went down.”
She continued:
“I just know that that relationship and that friendship kind of went by the wayside. Maybe they still had some contact, but I doubt it very much. I think Travis’s life went in a very different direction than my son’s. The oomph of DTA disappeared when my son left DTA.”
Despite nonetheless grieving her son’s demise, Cattis confused she was not “angry” with him and simply misses him on a regular basis:
“I’m not angry with him, I miss him, but he did what he needed to do to fulfil his life. He left me a big, long journal, so I know why he did things the way he did.”
Another shut pal, Buttsy Butler, believed a current breakup had “affected him more than anything business-wise.” Meanwhile, a style business insider who had been closed to Johan additionally informed The Sun his demise agreed with Cattis that it was a “culmination of a lot of things” that led to his demise, including:
“DTA originally was one of the coolest streetwear brands in the world. But once the company partnered with Travis the focus shifted more into volume. The firm was selling at big box stores and then the 2008 economic crash happened. The big box stores weren’t buying as much. On top of that, the company had lost its core market because fans accused it of selling out to the establishment. And Yo also had personal problems. He ended up moving back to Canada.”
The pal claimed Johan was residing on a ranch and dealing as a carpenter for some time, whereas Cattis claimed he was a development employee. The pal went on to say:
“I spoke to him a couple of weeks before he died and he was talking about moving back to LA. And then it happened.”
So, so unhappy…
Even although Travis and Johan had been estranged on the time, little doubt this will need to have been laborious for the 46-year-old musician as he already went by an immense tragedy when he was concerned in a 2008 airplane crash that left him significantly injured and killed 4 individuals. Less than a yr after the accident, his greatest pal Adam “DJ AM” Goldstein – who had been injured within the crash – handed away from an overdose.
Our hearts exit to Travis and Johan’s love ones as they proceed to mourn this loss.
If you or somebody you already know is contemplating suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), textual content “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741, or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
[Image via WENN]
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