Perhaps he is happiest up in the air, far from the world that has attached great sorrow, scandal and secrecy to his wealth and social status. His best-known hobby is aviation (he owns and pilots several aircraft), and even that registers as a kind of woeful escape. He’d been mocked for his questionable hairstyles before finally outing himself as bald.
The personal struggles sit alongside Travolta’s extremely uneven career, marred by mega-flops like Gotti and the Hubbard-inspired passion project Battlefield Earth, which made Travolta a punchline in any era despite iconic turns in Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction and The People vs. John Travolta - Denies Sexually Assaulting Cruise Ship Worker Scientology, according to one-time insiders, promotes homophobia and “ gay-bashing.” Throughout these tribulations, Travolta (and his lawyers) have denied everything. Travolta was supposedly banned from a New York hotel’s spa for “inappropriate behavior,” and a male California pilot once claimed to have had a six-year affair with the star. A police report from 2000 details a strikingly familiar case. The most common tabloid assumption is that Travolta is actually gay, or at least bisexual in 2012, two male massage therapists attempted a lawsuit against him for assault and sexual battery in separate incidents, adding to a pattern of lurid gossip. John Travolta defends The Church of Scientology after "Going Clear" airs It seems likely that a similar dark cloud will hang over Preston’s death, especially with the popularity of actress Leah Remini’s Scientology and the Aftermath documentary, in which the ex-member has said that the Church “ will prevent people from getting the real medical help that they need.” Her co-host, Mike Rinder - once a highly placed Scientologist - has also unearthed Hubbard’s patently unscientific views on the origins of cancer, namely, “ a second-dynamic or sexual upset, such as the loss of children.”
(This was just four years after fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise had gone on a virally bizarre press tour that included attacks on prescription drugs like anti-depressants as well as psychiatry, a villainous force wreaking havoc on humankind, according to the works of Church founder L. Following a mistrial, the family declined to pursue charges further, but the damage was essentially done: a handful of former Scientologists speculated that out of devotion to the Church, known for its skepticism of autism and chronic disease, Preston and Travolta had lived in denial of their son’s needs and perhaps even failed to pursue available medical options. Random accusations of the Church’s interference in Peston’s personal health contained grim echoes of the rumors that followed the 2009 death of her son, Jett Travolta, at age 16, in the Bahamas, from a seizure.Īfterward, mother and father were compelled to testify to Jett’s previously unconfirmed autism, history of seizures and Kawasaki disease, a rare inflammatory condition - this because of an alleged $25 million extortion plot by individuals who purportedly threatened to sell the stories that implicated Travolta was at fault in Jett’s death. Some wondered if, as Scientologists - and given the confidentiality on Preston’s diagnosis - the pair had elected to forego conventional treatments for Preston’s cancer, despite Travolta’s statement of gratitude for Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center, one of several medical facilities where he said she received care. She was, and Travolta is, a prominent member of the controversial organization, subject of countless exposés and conspiracy theories. While the outpouring of sympathy from media and famous friends has been immense, Preston’s death was also met by harsh scrutiny from critics of the Church of Scientology. All my love, JTĪ post shared by John Travolta on at 10:20pm PDT But please know that I will feel your outpouring of love in the weeks and months ahead as we heal. I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while. Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered. 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. She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many. 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.