There are two stories in the National Enquirer this week about the Travoltas. The first is that Kelly Preston, who just “gave birth”* at the age of 48 to her third child in November, wants another baby supposedly. This story sounds like either a fabrication or wishful thinking. It’s hard for me to consider the Travoltas in any kind of normal context (i.e. they want another child like a regular couple) without thinking of the batsh*t comments that Kelly gave in an interview in January. She and John are Scientologists, and the nonsensical drivel she spouted on The Today Show kind of brought it home for me how brainwashed she is, and how there might be something to those rumors that she’s a beard for John. She just doesn’t seem all “there” which can happen when people are reprogrammed.

Anyway I do feel a lot of sympathy for the Travoltas after they lost their 16 year-old son, Jett, when he suffered a head injury following a seizure two years ago. They’ve been through so much, and John started a foundation in Jett’s honor following his death. According to public records the foundation has only raised a paltry $39,350 in donations in two years, and has only given out around $29,200 in grants. It sounds like Travolta started the foundation and forgot all about it, because he probably makes more than that for one appearance.

The Jett Travolta Foundation is getting flack for raising just $39,530 in the two years and three months since Jett’s heartbreaking death, the Eqnuirer was learned.

The Foundation was started after [Kelly and John’s] 16 year-old son Jett died on January 2, 2009, following a seizure during a family getaway to Grand Bahama Island.

The actor reluctantly admitted the teen had been battling autism – even though that condition is not recognized by his Scientology church.

The Travoltas’ tax exempt organization in Jett’s honor is supposed to provide assistance to children in need. But shockingly, only $28,000 has been given in grants – plus a donation of $1,200 to a child described as having “medical needs.”

With all of the star’s wealthy friends, critics are wondering why more money hasn’t been raised.

“John can spend $40,000 on fuel for his private jet in a weekend or two,” a source told The Enquirer. “For the Jett Travolta Foundation to raise so little money in over two years is a complete joke.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, April 4, 2011]

As the Enquirer notes, Scientology doesn’t recognize autism at all and it took until Jett’s death for John to acknowledge his son’s medical condition. The Travoltas’ richest friends, like Tom Cruise, Lisa Marie Presley, and Kirstie Alley, are all Scientologists and they’re not about to give money to a foundation that could promote “psychiatry” in any way. (See this Wiki article for background.) Travolta is probably conflicted about helping this charity he founded as well, in that he wants to honor his son but has been taught by his cult that psychiatric medication and psychology are to be opposed at all costs. Scientologists believe that their quack methods are the only way to address any kind of “psychiatric” problem, and it’s unclear what they believe falls under that umbrella. John probably realizes that Scientology failed in his late son’s case and it may eat him up inside. He’s never going to talk about it, though.

Alternate explanations could be that the foundation is a front for Scientology, and that they plan to help and “support” kids by trying to indoctrinate them. It could also be the case that John funnels all his extra money into the cult and was told by higher ups not to donate to his own “psych-promoting” charity. (See the video in this post for the lengths Scientologists go to in order to oppose psychiatry. Around 1:45, head David Miscavige talks about breaking “the dark spell cast across earth by psychiatry.”)

*I put that in quotes about Kelly giving birth because there’s doubt surrounding whether she had the baby herself. I think she did give birth, as I explained in this post.

John Travolta is shown on 2/5/11 at the Goldene Kamera awards in Berlin. Why can’t he just ditch the weave already? Credit: WENN.com