John Travolta Pays Emotional Tribute to Late Son Jett on His 32nd Birthday

John Travolta is remembering his late son Jett on his birthday. The proud dad shared a heartfelt message on his Instagram, just before what would have been Jett’s 32nd birthday. With his words, the actor posted an old picture where he also honored his late wife Kelly Preston. The photo showed Travolta and Preston standing together, with Jett nestled between them. Jett, who looked younger in the photo, beamed a big smile as he hugged his mom.

Blaine Ohigashi / Avalon/Photoshot/East News

“Happy birthday my Jetty — not a day goes by where you’re not with me!” Travolta wrote in the caption of his post. Travolta and Preston had three children together: their eldest son Jett, daughter Ella Bleu, 24, and son Benjamin, 13.

Travolta’s daughter Ella also posted a touching photo with her brother. “Happy Birthday, Jetty. I love you always,” she captioned the post.

Jett passed away tragically at 16 in January 2009 while on a family vacation in the Bahamas. He suffered a seizure and hit his head on a bathtub at their vacation home. Preston also passed away, in July 2020, two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She was 57.

A loyal and unbreakable love story.

John Travolta and Kelly Preston have experienced the type of love typically shown in romantic movies, the kind that they have frequently portrayed on-screen. In fact, it was on the set of The Experts in 1989 that they had their first encounter. Nonetheless, Preston and her ex-husband, Kevin Gage, were still legally married at the time. “I was not that happily married, let’s put it that way,” Preston declared years later. “I was really with the wrong person.”

Yet, for Travolta and Preston, it was true love at first sight; the actor had feelings for his wife the instant he laid eyes on her and recalls thinking, “She came in, this gorgeous woman. We had an immediate chemistry.”

Preston’s marriage eventually ended in 1987, and the actress was involved in 2 other relationships before kicking off a romance with her future lifelong companion. Their love was very intense, to the point that Travolta immediately got down on one knee in 1991, and only a few months later, they tied the knot.

The couple’s affection was so tremendous that they didn’t worry about forging ahead, and at the time of their nuptials, Preston already was 2 months pregnant with their first child.

The joy of their first child’s birth while fearing for his health.

On April 13, 1992, Preston and Travolta gave birth to their first child, whom they named Jett. Despite the initial excitement of his birth, the joy was soon overtaken by concern for the health condition Jett was born with. Sadly, the child had a number of health issues, including autism and Kawasaki syndrome that caused artery swelling.

Travolta had a special bond with his son who had been adored and nurtured since his arrival. “I can’t imagine what life would be like without Jett,” he confessed.

Despite the difficulties life threw at them, the couple stayed committed to one another and went on to expand their family. They did, in fact, welcome their daughter, Ella Bleu, in 2000, who is the only one of the couple’s children to follow in her parents’ footsteps. Ella, indeed, is an aspiring actress, taking on small roles and also making some appearances alongside her father.

The kind of loss that no parent should ever go through.

Their family’s peace was shattered when they faced a tragedy that irrevocably altered their lives. In 2009, when they were on vacation in the Bahamas, their loving son, Jett, passed away.

The tragedy devastated the family, and they decided to protect their sadness and grief in the most private way possible. After all, the only appropriate response in these types of circumstances is silence. Only their attorney declared at the time, “John never dreamed of this. He is heartbroken. To bury your son is the worst thing you can ever do.”

Travolta faced great sorrow, and he confessed, “I didn’t know if I was going to make it, life was no longer interesting to me.” However, throughout the years, the couple has consistently honored their late son in an effort to give him a lasting sense of love and esteem.

They made it their life mission to remember him and raise awareness about his condition. And Preston did the same, posting a picture with their beloved son along with a caption that read, “I send love to all of the beautiful autistic children. May we all shine and grant love and respect to children with special needs. To my sweet love, Jett, you are in our hearts forever.”

Most recently, on what would have been Jett’s thirtieth birthday, Travolta commemorated him by posting a throwback photo. The caption read, “My dearest Jetty, I miss you more than words can say. I think about you every day.”

A bright light filled their life.

The support of our loved ones is the only thing that can keep us going, and Preston and Travolta never stopped working toward expanding their lovely family. Therefore, nearly 2 years after the tragedy, they welcomed Benjamin.

“Certainly having little Ben has been a beautiful kind of glue for us to rebound after tremendous loss,” Travolta claimed after the birth of their son. Thereafter, he also shared, “He’s given the house a renewed spirit and purpose.”

Life challenged Travolta one more time.

But life has not been easy for Travolta, and after grieving his first kid, he had to deal with even more sorrow when he lost the love of his life, Preston. Reportedly, she had been dealing with a serious illness for years but had never said anything about it in order to maintain a low profile.

Preston died on July 12, 2020, after a 2-year fight for her life, according to Travolta’s Instagram post. While the actor first chose to pull away from the spotlight, he later opened up about it. “I learned that crying and mourning over someone is something personal,” revealed Travolta. “Mourning is individual and experiencing your own journey is what can lead to healing.”

Love, even after death, never fades, as Travolta knows all too well, having loved the same woman for half his life. He never misses the opportunity to express his feelings for her, posting images of his late wife to remind her how much he misses her. “We love you and miss you, Kelly,” he wrote alongside one of them.

Stronger than ever.

Today, Travolta and his family have discovered strength in their shared love after many years of grief. Travolta and his kids continue to strive for optimism in life while holding Preston and Jett close to their hearts.

Explaining the death of his loved ones to the house’s youngest child was another struggle for Travolta, but he displayed his tenacity yet again. The actor was honest with his son, remarking, “Your brother Jett left at 16. Too young. Your mother left at 57. That was too young. So let’s look at it like it’s part of life. You just do your best at trying to live the longest you can.”

The actor’s life mission is to secure his children’s futures by making them feel loved, exactly like Preston and Jett would have.

“If I couldn’t eat, I didn’t want to live,” opened up Stanley Tucci while talking about his journey surviving tongue cancer. The whole story about his challenge can be read here.