John Travolta reflects on conversation he had with young son following Kelly Preston's death
John Travolta has reflected on a heartbreaking conversation he had with his young son following his wife Kelly Preston's death.
In a recent episode of Kevin Hart's Hart to Heart series, the Hollywood star opened up about Preston's passing in July 2020 at the age of 57 after a battle with breast cancer, and recalled a chat he had with their son Benjamin in which the 10-year-old had expressed his concern that "because mom passed away I'm afraid you're going to".
"I said, 'Well it's a very different thing.' And then I went through the differences about my longevity and in her limited life," Travolta remembered. "Nobody knows when they're going to go or when they're going to stay. I said, 'Your brother left at 16 - too young. Your mother left at 57. That was too young. But who's to say?' I said I could die tomorrow. You could. Anybody can. So, let's look at life, that (death is) part of life. You see, you don't know exactly. You just do your best at trying to live the longest you can."
Travolta and Preston's eldest son, Jett, died at the age of 16 in 2009 as a result of a seizure.
Elsewhere in the interview, Travolta also candidly discussed his commitment to the Church of Scientology, which he was introduced to while making the 1975 film, The Devil's Rain.
"This is what I've discovered. When you're unabashed about what you do, you don't get attacked. I felt like it saved my life. Why would I want to hide that? You know, why would I inhibit what made me feel better about living? And why would I want to inhibit the tools that that subject matter gave me to live a better life?" the 67-year-old asked. "I think that I got attacked less because I had nothing on it. I didn't - I wasn't trying to hide it. If anything, I was probably more attacked at times for trying to promote it."
