After Over One Year Of Mourning, John Travolta Opens Up

Jul 22, 2021

John Travolta has been through a lot in the past couple of years. He's starred in some big movies like "Gotti," "Savages," and "From Paris with Love," but he's also suffered tremendous heartbreak in the past two decades. In 2009, the star lost his son Jett in a tragic incident while on vacation in the Bahamas, and the "Pulp Fiction Star" lost his wife, Kelly Preston, to cancer last year.

2020 was a long year for everyone but especially the Travolta family, who lost their matriarch in July following a battle with breast cancer. Since then, John Travolta has made a few public mentions of the family's loss, as has his lookalike daughter Ella Bleu Travolta. The Travolta family celebrated their first Christmas without Preston last year. The family has been grieving, but slowly and steadily, they've been showing that they're moving on in life, with Preston's memory firmly in their minds. John Travolta has always been a proud dad, but especially in the last year, John has proven himself to be a true family man who's always there for his two children Ella Bleu Travolta and Benjamin Travolta.

In an interview with Esquire Spain from Apr. 21, 2021, Travolta opened up about how he copes with the loss of his dear wife, Kelly Preston, nearly one year after her passing. Travolta spoke about how mourning was deeply personal to him and how it was challenging for him to be mourning while also needing to be there for his children as a father.

Read on to learn more about the interview, how the death of Kelly Preston deeply affected Travolta and his family, and what Travolta has learned through the entire grieving process. 

John Travolta has been in the spotlight since the 1970s, having graced the screen in many classic movies, including "Grease" and "Saturday Night Fever," through to his famed comeback in the 1990s in "Pulp Fiction," "Get Shorty," "Face/Off," and many more. His late wife Kelly Preston, who tragically lost her battle against breast cancer at the age of 57 in July 2020, was also a well-known actress, starring in such movies as "Jerry Maguire" and "For the Love of the Game."

Travolta met Preston on the set of their 1987 film The Experts. Although Preston was married to someone else at the time, she said in a 2018 interview she "was really with the wrong person" at the time. The couple started spending more time together, and soon enough, Preston and Travolta married in 1991, and over the following years, their children Jett, Ella Bleu, and Benjamin were born.

Tragically, however, Jett Travolta passed away in 2009 at the age of 16 due to an unexpected seizure and resulting fall. One year after the Travoltas lost Jett, they lost their two family dogs. The canines were run over and killed in an accident at Maine's Bangor International Airport, as ABC News reports. This, together with Preston's untimely death in 2020, means that the Travolta family is no stranger to tragedy. In light of this, it is completely understandable that the remaining children and their father have formed a very close bond.

Despite the hardships the family has faced, they still find time to spend together and have fun, like in the Superbowl commercial earlier in 2021. Father and daughter teamed up for a musical advertisement appearance in their lush, green backyard, re-creating the famous hand jive that John was known for in 1978.  

John Travolta and his family lost their wife and mother, Kelly Preston, on July 12, 2021, to breast cancer. The Esquire Spain interview from Apr. 21, 2021, was originally published in Spanish, but on Apr. 24, 2021, Prevention Magazine published their own coverage of the interview in English. In the interview, Travolta opened up about multiple aspects of mourning the loss of his wife.

"Living in mourning is something personal," Travolta said. He went on to discuss how being alone is sometimes better than surrounding yourself with people while dealing with grief.

"The first thing you should do when you experience grief is to go to a place where you can mourn, without any interference. Even though it's great to have company, sometimes it becomes like you're helping them rather than putting yourself to work overcoming feelings of loss and grief."

As a father, Travolta has lost a son and a wife. He's also had to support his daughter during the loss of Preston. On helping others, Travolta said:

"The most important thing you can do to help another when they are in mourning is to allow them to live it and not complicate it with yours."

Travolta met his wife Kelly Preston back in 1989 while filming the movie "The Experts." The two got married in 1991. On July 13, 2020, Travolta announced Preston's passing to the world via Instagram. He wrote:

"It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer. She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many... Kelly's love and life will always be remembered..."

What do you think about Travolta's insights on grief and mourning? Let us know your thoughts, and be sure to pass this on to your loved ones.