Travis Barker ‘Pushed’ Machine Gun Kelly to ‘Get Sober’ and Win Megan Fox Back: It Was ‘Tough Love’

Travis Barker is a big part of the reason that Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox were able to reconcile and make their relationship work. Now that the two have a baby on the way, the rapper credits his rocker pal with being a good influence, a source exclusively tells In Touch.

“MGK really looks up to Travis. He’s a great influence on him because he’s sober and just has so much life experience,” the source explains. “Travis has been in Hollywood and the music scene for decades. He’s also screwed up his fair share of relationships, so when MGK came to him complaining about getting dumped by Megan, he didn’t give him a lot of sympathy. It was all tough love.”

The insider says that Travis, 49, “read [MGK] the riot act” for messing things up with Megan, 38. “Travis pushed him to stop all the nonsense and get sober and he also intervened with Megan and convinced her not to totally shut the door,” the insider adds. “Once MGK proved that he was getting his life together, Travis orchestrated peace talks between him and Megan.”

From there, the two “got into therapy” and were able to work on things, which eventually led to Megan announcing her pregnancy with their first child together in November. “If it wasn’t for Travis kicking MGK’s butt into gear, it might have never happened,” the source admits.

After getting together in 2020, Megan and MGK, 34, got engaged in January 2022. However, a year later, they sparked breakup rumors based on her social media activity, which included deleting all the photos of him and sharing a cryptic photo of an envelope being burned with the caption, “You can taste the dishonesty, it’s all over your breath.”

Although the two reconciled a few months later, it wasn’t until August 2023 that MGK fully committed to getting sober. “That was my first time I ever went to rehab,” he said while celebrating his one-year sobriety anniversary. The “Tickets to my Downfall” singer said his daughter Casie is the main reason he got on this path, but it was also a turning point in his relationship with the Transformers actress.

“He’s so grateful that she gave him another chance and that he was able to find the strength to get his act together and be the man she deserves,” another source recently exclusively told In Touch. “They both feel they are true soulmates and meant to be together forever, so this baby is a dream come true.”

While MGK has Casie, 15, from a previous relationship, Megan shares three children with ex-husband Brian Austin Green. Brian, 51, welcomed a baby boy with fiancée Sharna Burgess in June 2022, but his and Megan’s kids are already ready to have another little one around.

“The kids are all super excited for another addition to the family and have promised to help out and pitch in,” Megan told People on Tuesday, December 3.

Megan and MGK’s baby news comes one year after she revealed that they previously suffered a pregnancy loss. While she did not specify when the miscarriage occurred, she opened up about how hard it was for her.

“I’ve never been through anything like that in my life,” she admitted. “I have three kids, so it was very difficult for both of us, and it sent us on a very wild journey together and separately trying to navigate, ‘What does this mean?’ and ‘Why did this happen?’”