In the late 1970s, off the heels of Saturday Night Fever, John Travolta was considered
one of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs.
Unfortunately, as years passed, Travolta's success in film has been overshadowed by a
litany of bad press.
Here are some tragic details about John Travolta.
Travolta was just 23 years old when his girlfriend lost her battle with breast cancer at the
age of 41.
According to People magazine, actress Diana Hyland had a mastectomy two years prior to
her death.
When Travolta first met her on the set of The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, he claimed
there was "a possibility" she'd recover.
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse while the actress was wrapping up some
early episodes of Eight Is Enough.
Travolta told the magazine in 1977,
"She didn't know she was going to die for sure until two weeks before."
That's when the actor flew to Los Angeles to be with Hyland during her final days, and
he was with her when she passed away.
Travolta described the time after Hyland's death as the "hardest 10 weeks" of his life,
and he relied on Scientology to help him through.
He added,
"I gave her great joy the last months of her life.
I always feel she is with me, I mean, her intentions are.
Diana always wanted the world for me in every possible way."
In 2009, Travolta tragically lost his and wife Kelly Preston's 16-year-old son Jett
during a family vacation in the Bahamas.
According to People, the teen passed away after suffering from a seizure and hitting
his head in a bathtub at their vacation home.
Jett had a history of seizures.
According to CBS News, Travolta said the child would have one "every five to ten days," and
they would last "from 45 seconds to minutes."
Following Jett's passing, Travolta sunk into a deep depression.
In an interview with the BBC, the actor admitted it was "the worst thing" that ever happened
to him, and he, quote, "didn't know if [he] was going to make it" through.
He added,
"Life was no longer interesting to me, so it took a lot to get me better."
"You plan on a life that's a lot longer for your child, and you always intend to go first."
Travolta ultimately leaned on the Church of Scientology to help him recover.
He explained,
"They didn't take a day off, working through different angles of the techniques to get
through grief and loss, and to make me feel that finally I could get through a day."
"They never left my side."
According to Us Weekly, Travolta and his wife never disclosed their son Jett's autism until
after his tragic death, and even then, it was only part of court testimony.
CBS News reported that Travolta owned up to Jett's autism in the months following his
death as part of an ongoing extortion case.
Two men were allegedly trying to blackmail him for $25 million with, quote, "private
information about his son's rescue effort."
According to ABC News, Travolta testified that a medic in the Bahamas was threatening
to say he was responsible for his son's passing, but the case was later dismissed because the
actor couldn't fathom having to testify again.
Years later, Preston opened up about her son's diagnosis during an episode of The Doctors.
According to The Mayo Clinic, autism is largely thought to be genetic, and researchers are
still trying to determine how many environmental factors play into the disorder.
Dealing with his son's death was hard enough on its own, but it was worsened by the onslaught
of media coverage.
The particularly gutting headlines speculated about Travolta's role as a father, asking
why he didn't come clean about his son's autism, and whether he was responsible in any way.
In one report published a decade after the fact, The Daily Mail alleged that Travolta
tried to resurrect his son in the back of the ambulance.
A former Scientologist claimed to the publication that Travolta had done something called a
"Bring Back to Life assist," where someone attempts to order a spirit back into the body
by saying,
"I command you to get into the body now."
It's claims like these that led Travolta to admit that the press surrounding his son's
passing was, in his words, the "most offensive."
In 2014, he told The Daily Beast that it really impacted his ability to grieve, saying,
"I felt like that was the lowest I'd ever felt...[The press should] stay away from family.
You really should.
With that, I always felt like the media, not all of the media, but parts of it, went too
low there."
Travolta and Preston's 28-year love story is one of endurance, through family tragedy,
legal troubles, and more.
According to People, Preston was already married when the pair first met during a screen test
for the 1989 flick The Experts.
As she admitted during an episode of Watch What Happens Live, it was "kind of" love at
first sight, but they didn't start dating until years later, after her divorce.
"I was not that happily married, let's put it that way, I was really with the wrong person."
The couple finally walked down the aisle in 1991 when Preston was two months pregnant
with their son Jett, and they never looked back.
Sadly, Preston and Travolta's time together was cut short.
The actress passed away on July 12th, 2020, following a secret battle with breast cancer.
She had privately been battling the disease for two years.
In an Instagram post, Travolta wrote,
"She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many.
My family and I will forever be grateful to her doctors and nurses at MD Anderson Cancer
Center, all the medical centers that have helped, as well as her many friends and loved
ones who have been by her side.
Kelly's love and life will always be remembered."