Travis Barker Documentary, What Happened To Adam 'DJ AM' Goldstein After The Deadly 2008 Plane Crash
Travis Barker has been hogging the limelight ever since his documentary was released. However, amid that, there is another person who has caught the limelight: Adam Goldstein, AKA, 'DJ AM'.
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Add BollywoodShaadis on GoogleTravis Barker: Louder Than Fear has been making headlines since its release on August 13, 2026. The documentary follows the life of Travis, including the 2008 plane crash, which had a major impact on his life. However, there is one more person who has been hogging the limelight since the documentary's release, and it is none other than Travis' friend, Adam Goldstein.
Adam Goldstein, also known as 'DJ AM', was also on the plane that crashed in 2008. In fact, he was the one who protected Travis Barker from getting any more burns. Amid the documentary, netizens' interest in what happened to him has renewed, so let's take a look at who he was and what happened to him.
What happened to Adam Goldstein and Travis Barker in 2008?
Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein were flying on a private Learjet from Columbia to Los Angeles after a performance at the University of South Carolina on September 19, 2008. The duo was accompanied by Travis' assistant Chris "Lil' Chris" Baker and bodyguard Charles "Che" Still. The pilot was Sarah Lemmon, and the co-pilot was James Bland. The flight was cleared to take off at 11:53 p.m.
However, something went wrong after the aircraft's tire failed and began sparking. Sarah Lemmon attempted to abort the takeoff, but the plane was going too fast and instead drove through a fence and "across a five-lane road before exploding in an embankment", according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The pilots died from smoke and fume inhalation and thermal injuries, with blunt force trauma as a contributing factor.
While Chris Baker and Charles Still died on impact from blunt force trauma, Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein were hospitalized and made a full recovery. However, the psychological impacts were extremely severe, as Travis didn't step on a flight again until 2021. However, what happened to Adam? According to the DJ, he was asleep at the time of the crash. In a conversation with PEOPLE in October 2008, he recalled waking up to a screaming Travis and said:
"Travis jerked open the door and slid on his butt down a wing that was on fire. I tried to cover my face as I jumped through a fireball. As soon as I hit the ground, I remembered 'stop, drop and roll,' so I started rolling...I finally put the flames out by smothering him with my body. Some of my burns are from that. His sock was on fire — I burned my fingers taking it off."
He further recalled that Travis' clothes had burned off in the fire, so he gave the drummer his pants and then called his mother. He recalled how his "eyebrows and layers of skin were burned off my face. My forehead was gouged, and my arm had skin hanging off. It was pouring blood and plasma." Adam revealed that he didn't feel anything at the time but had suffered second- and third-degree burns on his scalp and arms.
Adam and Travis were hospitalized at Joseph M. Still Burn Center in Doctors Hospital in Augusta. However, his terrifying journey was just getting started. At the hospital, Adam had an arterial line, two IVs with antibiotics and pain medication, pigskin on his burns, and bandages "like a ski mask" on his face. He later took a bus to Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital to continue his recovery.
There, he told the news outlet how the staff debrided his wounds. However, even after the pigskin and bandages, the doctor told him he needed skin grafts on his neck and arms, which they took from his scalp. In the same conversation, he further shared:
"In it, your body gets 2.4 times the normal atmospheric pressure of oxygen. I believe that's why I've healed so fast. It's claustrophobic, but I could listen to a TV outside playing Casino and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective."
What happened to Adam Goldstein after the crash and where is he now?
After the treatment was done, Adam Goldstein faced another challenge: protecting his sobriety. At the time of the crash, Adam had been 10 years into his recovery from addiction, and he didn't want to lose that, so in order to maintain control, he hired a nurse to administer his pain medication. He also saw a behavior modification specialist regularly. However, while the wounds healed, the psychological terrors began.
Adam Goldstein started to find fire and images of flames triggering. He recalled his first night at home and said, "I watched Iron Man with friends. In the scene where [he] comes out of a cave with a blowtorch, my whole body cringed. That night, I had a nightmare that someone spilled fuel on me and was trying to light me on fire." He worked towards his trauma, and eventually the nightmares stopped.
However, it deeply affected his work, particularly at the Rain nightclub in Las Vegas, where he had standing Friday-night gigs. Three months after the crash, Adam Goldstein sued Learjet, the pilots' estates, and others for USD 20 million, citing "pain and suffering, mental anguish, psychological and emotional distress, disfigurement and pre-impact fear of death and burning."
While what happened to the lawsuit is unclear, the crash had taken a lot from him, including his relationship with his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Hayley Wood. After finally getting himself back, DJ AM went into his shell. The source revealed that, while he maintained his professional responsibilities and DJ gigs, he didn't socialize. And less than a year later, on August 28, 2009, he was found dead.
According to reports, Adam's friend called the police for a wellness check after they were unable to reach the DJ before his regular Friday night set in Las Vegas. The cops found him deceased and discovered crack, cocaine, and prescription drugs, including OxyContin, surrounding Adam in his bedroom, as well as photos and a Valentine's Day card from Hayley Wood in his living room.
While initially sources said that he died by suicide, with eight OxyContin in his system and a ninth in his mouth, it was later revealed that his overdose was accidental, according to AP. While no note was found around him, his friends believed that the crash had left a lasting impact on him. One of his friends said:
"It was something he fought daily. If that crash hadn't happened, he would be alive right now."
What are your thoughts on Travis Barker's friend Adam Goldstein's death? Let us know.
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