There's no doubt in my mind its real. The text and the audio are dead ringers for how he communicates. He doesn't sound distressed or fantastical, he sounds completely natural. This is the exact same way he talks in all normal communications we've seen with people. Furthermore, there's dropped nuggets several times in the past about being sexually attracted to Barb, spooning with her, etc.
Occam's razor. I guarantee any conspiracy theory that is made up to defend him is going to make much less sense than what I just said.