Travis Barker had loved Kourtney Kardashian "for years" before they got together.

The Blink-182 drummer embarked on a relationship with the 47-year-old reality star after years of friendship, but he admitted he and his now-wife had wanted something more "for years" but were unsure it would ever happen.

Speaking to Billy Corgan on his The Magnificent Others podcast, Travis said: "When it happened, it was like a perfect symmetry from both of our sides. Her friends would be like, 'Oh, you and Trav.' And she'd be like, 'Ah yeah, I don't know if that'll ever happen.' And people would say the same thing to me.

"We both wanted it to happen and we knew if it did happen, it would probably be like neither of us would have a choice. We would just be overwhelmed with whatever and fall madly in love. And we did."

Travis noted he and Kourtney - who married in 2022 and welcomed son Rocky into the world in November 2023 - had "such a strong foundation" because of their years of friendship, which he had never had with other relationships.

He said: "I already loved her as a friend… I loved her for years. It was someone that was always a friend, that I always thought about. I always was like, 'Oh my God.'"

The All the Small Things hitmaker - who also has stepdaughter Atiana, 27, Landon, 23, and Alabama, 20, from his marriage to Shanna Moakler and is stepdad to Kourtney and Scott Disick's children Mason, 16, Penelope, 14, and 11-year-old Reign - previously admitted things turned romantic with the Kardashians star when he was "least expecting it".

He told People magazine earlier this year: "It happened when I was least expecting it -- bam, just get hit with an abundance of love from someone.

"I think the power of love is very strong and underestimated."

Travis previously shared details of the text message he'd received from Kourtney that prompted them to take their friendship to a new level, and how "scared" he was to act on it.

He told The Times newspaper: "I had offered a mutual guy friend some dating advice. I was just like, 'Just have fun hooking up with girls. Think of it like a sport. Don't try to get emotionally invested with everyone. Try to find your bearings.'

"And then Kourtney texted something like, 'Why don't you teach me how to find my bearings?' I'm like, 'Oh my gosh.' And I was scared because I thought, 'I can't mess this up, I can't mess this up.'"