Model and actress Shanna Moakler is better known for her love life than her career as a model and actress. Still, she was successful long before meeting boxer Oscar De La Hoya and later marrying Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker.
Born in Rhode Island in 1975, the reality TV star has been in the industry since she joined the pageant world as a teenager. “I’m more than just the ex-wife of famous men. I was Miss USA at 19. I’m smart. Every part I’ve ever got in any movie, or every show I hosted or auditioned for, I worked my f****g a*s off to get,” she told PEOPLE. More than meets the eye, who is Shanna Moakler, and how did she become famous?
Shanna Moakler’s Career In Pageantry And Reality TV
Although Shanna Moakler is better known by the public for her on and off relationship with Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, she had a successful career in pageantry.
According to Pageant Planet, Shanna Moakler started modeling at age 15 and, at 17, represented Rhode Island in the Miss Teen USA pageant in 1992. She won the Miss Teen All-American title in 1993 and was the winner of the Miss New York USA pageant in 1995.
- She carried on working closely with the Miss USA franchise and ultimately became the Executive Producer of the Miss Nevada USA State Pageant in 2012.
- She later took over the Miss Utah USA Organization as the Executive Director.
Her involvement in the world of pageantry did not come without controversy. When former Miss Universe owner Donald Trump refused to remove former Miss California USA 2009 Carrie Prejean following posing nude for photos, Shanna resigned from her involvement with the Miss California USA Organization.
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“I cannot with a clear conscience move forward supporting and promoting the Miss Universe Organization when I no longer believe in it, or the contracts I signed committing myself as a youth,” Moakler explained at the time. As a PETA anti-fur campaigner, she also decided that Miss Nevada would stop awarding fur coats as prizes to the winner.
Shanna Moakler’s modeling career led her to signing a contract with Playboy, where she was named December 2001’s Playmate of the Month.
She also had some success as an actress, appearing on the likes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Timecop, and Joey, and was a regular on Pacific Blue. She later became a staple on reality TV, even having her own reality TV show with Travis Barker in 2005 called Meet The Barkers. More recently, she appeared on Dancing With the Stars and the 2022 series Celebrity Big Brother.
Shanna’s Notable TV Appearances
Title | Role | Year |
Pacific Blue | Monica Harper | 1998-2000 |
Critical Mass | Alexandra | 2001 |
Punk’d | Herself | 2003 |
Joey | Mariska | 2005 |
Meet The Barkers | Herself | 2005-2006 |
Big Momma’s House | Petra | 2006 |
Dancing With The Stars | Herself | 2006 |
Entourage | Kelsey | 2007 |
Crowned: The Mother Of All Pageants | Herself (Judge) | 2007-2008 |
Real World: Skeletons | Herself | 2008 |
Hollywood Lives | Herself | 2007-2009 |
Bridalplasty | Herself (Host) | 2010-2011 |
Hollywood Exes | Herself | 2014-2020 |
Celebrity Big Brother | Herself | 2022 |
Shanna Moakler’s Relationship With Oscar De La Hoya
Shanna Moakler is better known for her tumultuous relationship with rock drummer Travis Barker. However, she was previously engaged to boxer Oscar De La Hoya, with whom she has a daughter, Atiana.
Shanna first met the boxing legend in 1997 and described the moment in his HBO documentary, per PEOPLE. “I saw this man walk by me and all these people were around him. It was so crazy. We just looked at each other and I knew I met a soulmate.”
“He was fun,” she said. “He always made me feel so beautiful. I fell in love with him.”
Their relationship suffered when Oscar was faced with rumors of infidelity and sexual assault, and the couple broke off their engagement in 2000. According to The Washington Post, he reached an out-of-court settlement with the woman.
She later told PEOPLE that his drinking also played an issue throughout their relationship. Her final straw came when he watched the Latin Grammy telecast and saw him holding hands on the red carpet with Puerto Rican singer Millie Corretjer. He claimed he and Shanna were not together then, but she claimed they were. “When I did take her [Millie] to the Grammys, for some apparent reason, Shanna thought I was still with her.”
She explained to the outlet that she confronted him about the incident. “The next day, he got in the car with me. I just said, ‘Why did you do that? He looked at me dead in the face and goes, ‘I don’t love you anymore.'”
Shanna Moakler’s On And Off Relationship With Travis Barker
Shanna Moakler would become a tabloid favorite after she met Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker in 2002 and married in 2004. PEOPLE reported that the couple were together on and off until 2008, often making their arguments public and accusing each other of infidelity.
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The Timeline of Shanna Moakler and Travis Barker’s Relationship:
- The pair met in 2002 and made their red carpet debut at the VMAs.
- They welcomed their son Landon Asher in 2003.
- Travis proposed to Shanna on Christmas Eve 2003 on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland.
- They wed at the Bacara Resort & Spa in Santa Barbara in October 2004.
- The couple welcomed daughter Alabama Luella on Christmas Eve 2005.
- He filed for divorce from Shanna in 2006.
- They reconnected in October at a Playboy Halloween party after he was linked to Paris Hilton, but it was short-lived.
- By March 2007, Shanna and Travis were back together, with the model telling PEOPLE, “We’re pulling out of the separation. We’re still married.”
- In June 2007, the couple split up again, but the actress was “upset” about the breakup. “She gave this marriage her all,” the insider told PEOPLE. “She really loves him.”
- Their divorce was finalized in 2008 after claims of infidelity, as reported by News Week.
- The pair try to make it work after Travis’ near-fatal plane crash, but the couple soon accuse each other of cheating.
- In December 2014, Shanna called the police on Travis after an incident occurred at her home. Both were taken away in handcuffs, but neither were arrested.
- She now says she has no relationship with Travis and the former couple do not currently talk. “I don’t feel like it’ll be like that forever, but I feel like right now — I think that’s where we are at in our evolution, and maybe in the future, it’ll change.”
Shanna Moakler’s Complicated Relationship With Her Children
Shanna Moakler’s complicated relationship with her children has been much publicized. She shares daughter Atiana with ex-Oscar De La Hoya and two children, Landon and Alabama Barker, with Travis Barker.
Collider reported that when Travis moved on with his now-wife, Kourtney Kardashian, in 2021, a source told Us Weekly that the couple were in a “very good place co-parenting” their kids. “She wishes Travis all the best,” the insider revealed in February 2021.
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In recent years, Landon and Alabama have taken to social media to criticize their mother and praise their rockstar father.
As reported by Us Weekly, Alabama wrote a scathing comment about Shanna on an Instagram story. “My mom has never completely been in my life. Can you guys stop painting her out to be an amazing mom? Did your moms ask to see you on Mother’s Day [because] mine didn’t? I’m done keeping it a secret, reality shows.”
Shanna told Us Weekly in May 2021 that her kids’ claims were “false” and “hurtful.”
I’m not really sure why my kids put that out there. I’m their mother. I love them. It’s hurtful and heartbreaking to have your kids say that.
The mom of three continued, “I feel like, as teenagers, they do rebel and say things sometimes they don’t mean. As a mother … I’ll always be there for my children, no matter what. I love them. I understand that we all have growing pains.”
Shanna has continued to have a rocky relationship with her children but told PEOPLE in June 2024 that she is not a “deadbeat mom,” and has a “close relationship with my children who are now adults, and I have been present in their lives, except during COVID lockdown.”
