There are few things more terrible than losing your child. One of those things is having to re-live the death of your child in a courtroom, because someone is trying to extort from you and profit from that child’s death. A lot has been said about John Travolta – specifically about his ties to Scientology – but no one can argue that yesterday had to be one of the worst days in his life. Travolta and wife Kelly Preston appeared in a Bahamian courtroom today, where John had to give his testimony in an extortion trial. The actor was asked to recount the time leading up to his son Jett’s death, and for the first time, he publicly revealed that his late son was indeed autistic.

In what will no doubt go down as the second most difficult day of his year, John Travolta took the stand this morning in the trial of two Bahamians allegedly involved in a $25 million extortion plot against his family.

A grim Travolta and Kelly Preston arrived at a Bahamian courthouse this morning escorted by a fleet of security.

The actor took the stand and immediately began revisiting the moments before his 16-year-old son Jett’s death on Jan. 2.

Jett’s nanny awakened Travolta and Preston at roughly 10:15 a.m., the actor said, informing them that Jett was unconscious in his bathroom.

“He was pounding on the door upstairs where we were sleeping. I ran downstairs with my wife to help my son,” Travolta recalled, adding that when he got to him, one of the boy’s caretakers was already performing chest compressions.

The actor quickly jumped into action and began administering CPR to his son, whom he also acknowledged on the stand suffered not only from Kawasaki disease, but from autism as well.

“Jeff, the other nanny, was doing some compressions,” he said. “I was doing the breathing.

“I took the place of the woman who was doing CPR. She was an employee of Old Bahama Bay who I recognized as such.”

After a brief lunch break, Travolta returned to the stand and for the first time admitted that the long-time speculation was true about his son’s condition.

“He was autistic,” he said. “He suffered from a seizure disorder.”

Travolta said his son suffered seizures every five to 10 days and that each seizure lasted around 45 seconds. Jett would usually sleep for 12 hours after an episode.

Travolta did not get much further in his testimony: An objection was raised and the court recessed. It’s clear what spurred on the objection and whether Travolta will return to the stand.

Opening arguments kicked off yesterday, with the Bahamian chief prosecutor wasting no time getting to the heart of the matter.

“Contact was made with certain persons to communicate a threat to John Travolta,” Bernard Turner said, referring to codefendants Pleasant Bridgewater, a former senator, and Tarino Lightbourne, an ambulance driver, who together are alleged to have attempted to extort $25 million from the grieving star.

At the root of the case is a refusal-to-transport document: The trial’s first witness, police inspector Andrew Wells, said Travolta requested that Jett be taken directly to the airport rather than the hospital—the reasoning likely being that he could just as quickly get his son medical treatment in the U.S. as on the island—and signed a release form stating just that.

In the end, Jett was taken directly to the hospital after all. It’s unclear what accounted for the change in decision or why the threat of publication of the signed document seemed like a good bargaining chip for the alleged extortionists.

The second witness to take the stand yesterday, paramedic Derrex Rolle, testified that Jett was already unresponsive when the emergency services arrived at the actor’s vacation home.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

[From E!Online]

I’m still kind of confused about this whole extortion plot and don’t really understand how this former senator and ambulance driver thought they’d get any money. It’s pretty clear that John Travolta signed the refusal to transport in a state of high emotion, hoping that he could transport his dying son by plane to the U.S. and possibly receive better care. When it was obvious that Jett was beyond medical intervention, he was transported to the hospital after all. So, again: where’s the motivation for extortion? These people are real lowlifes to exploit a grieving family. It must have been incredibly difficult for Travolta to take the stand and talk about his son’s last hours, but I’m glad he found the courage to do so. I hope these jerks go to jail for a long time.

It’s been a hard year for Toni Braxton. After canceling concerts due to a heart condition, it now seems that she has had a benign lump removed from her breast. Toni actually discovered the lump while filming Dancing with the Stars, and postponed having it removed until she was off the show on October 20th.

The 41-year-old admits that she discovered the benign tumour before she appeared on the ABC programme, but decided to wait until she was eliminated from the contest to undergo surgery.

And Braxton is now relieved that she exited the show early.

She tells Us Weekly.com, “Getting the boot on the show was actually a blessing in disguise for me. My grandmother on my dad’s side died of breast cancer, and I have aunts on both sides that have breast cancer.”

Contact Music

Toni is going to be fine, and this will be a reminder to people that finding a lump on your breast doesn’t mean you’ve got cancer. Whatever happens you really need to go get it checked out. Don’t be afriad to go to the doctor.

Toni Braxton has recently created a PSA for parents, comparing her odds of being a successful musician to the odds of her having a child with autism, the point being that the odds are 1 in 150 that you may have a child with autism and that you should learn the early signs. The sooner autistic children get help the better the outcome for them. Toni has been outspoken about her son Diezel’s autism, saying that if he had been diagnosed sooner (he was three) he could have been helped. She was angry that doctors wanted to take a wait-and-see approach, when she felt treatment should have started immediately.

Toni Braxton is shown on 11/7/08 at a Lupus fundraiser she hosted in LA. Credit: WENN

Jenny McCarthy has declared her son, Evan, recovered from autism due to the special diet and techniques she’s used since she says he started exhibiting the symptoms, at age 2, after an MMR vaccination. The American Academy of Pediatrics has come out in criticism of McCarthy’s claim that a wheat and dairy free diet has cured McCarthy’s son.

When Evan was 2 years old he was diagnosed with autism. At that time, Jenny started researching the condition and says she prayed. She says she made a deal with God: “You fix my boy, you show me the way and I’ll teach the world how I did it.” Jenny tells the world more of how she did it in the latest issue of Us Magazine.

The actress – who believes the MMR vaccine was to blame for her son’s diagnosis – says a strict no wheat-and-dairy-free diet has changed her son from a quiet little boy who used to flail his arms around to a loving six-year-old.



“Before the vaccination, he was huggy, lovey, snuggly,” she says in the newest issue of Us Weekly. “Then it was like someone came down and stole him.”

McCarthy, 36, remembers when Evan began to come out of his shell while watching a SpongeBob episode. “I heard Evan laugh…I jumped on the bed and started screaming.”

She adds, “When he finally hugged me, I prayed, ‘Please God don’t let this be the only time.’”



[From UsMagazine]

Jenny says Evan is now a happy, loving child that no longer exhibits any signs of autism. He sure is adorable, too, he always has such a winning smile. She’s got to be doing something right, although I think it’s a little presumptuous to think it’s the answer for everyone. McCarthy admits that there are parents who have been doing much more for much longer and haven’t had the significant results that she has with Evan. She goes into detail in her newest book, Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds.

Jenny McCarthy and Evan are shown at the Horton Hears a Who premiere on 3/8/08. They are also shown out together on 9/30/07. Credit: Bauergriffinonline. Jenny McCarthy is shown below on 10/6/08 at Elle’s Women in Hollywood event and on 10/1/08 with boyfriend Jim Carrey at Target Presents AFI’s Night At The Movies. Credit: WENN and Fame

At a protest rally in Washington DC, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey spoke yesterday on behalf of “Green Our Vaccines” a group that has called into question the vaccination program for infants and toddlers recommended by the government. The two celebrities articulated the group’s position, that childhood vaccines are likely a contributing factor to a rise in childhood autism and possibly other diseases as well.

McCarthy, whose own son has been diagnosed with autism, has been especially outspoken on the subject. According to CBS News, the actress and “Green our Vaccines” are most concerned with the schedule of childhood vaccines and preservatives added to the vaccines. Green our Vaccines attributes a rise in childhood autism to an increase in the number of vaccines, coupled with chemicals used in the vaccines that may cause severe neurological problems to a small minority.

Critics of the group, including the Center for Disease Control, point to a lack of evidence that links vaccinations directly to Autism. CDC also points out the thousands of lives saved from vaccinations against smallpox, polio, measles, and whooping cough. Other critics point out that more awareness of autism and new ways to identify autism has led to more reported cases of the disease, which has led to an appearance that more children are developing the disease. Finally critics point to recent studies that failed to prove any causal connection between Autism and childhood vaccinations.

However, the Allegheny Times reports that since the 1980′s the number of vaccinations required for children has tripled. The times quotes one critic of the CDC’s mandatory vaccination schedule:

In the early 1980s, children were receiving only 10 vaccinations. At that time, the rate of autism diagnoses was one in 10,000. Now, children receive 36 vaccines, and the number of autistic children, according to federal agencies, is one in 150.

[From TimeOnline.com]

Both sides agree that vaccinations are necessary to prevent many childhood diseases. But despite the CDC’s claim that vaccinations are safe, it will take more than studies funded by the pharmaceutical companies to convince the skeptics like Green Our Vaccines.

Jenny McCarthy was on Larry King Live last night and she was very clear that she thinks her nearly six year old son, Evan, would not have suffered from autism if it wasn’t for vaccinations. She said that autism is a global epidemic, and that she and the autism community are not anti-vaccination, but that they’re anti-toxin and anti-schedule. She’s says “we’re not treating autism, we’re treating vaccine injury.”

Larry asked Jenny about the schedule and she said that back in 1987 there were 10 shots scheduled for children and today it’s 36, which is “too many too soon.” She says we need an alternate schedule, and that the mercury has not been removed from vaccines and that the shots also include aluminum, ether, and antifreeze.

MCCARTHY: I personally haven’t heard of that many people falling off the map that we needed to implement 26 new shots in this time. And isn’t it ironic, in 1983 there was 10 shots and now there’s 36 and the rise of autism happened at the same time?

And parent after parent after parent says I vaccinated my baby, they got a fever and then they stopped speaking and then became autistic.

KING: Is your link scientific or statistical?

MCCARTHY: Well, I believe that parents’ anecdotal information is science-based information. And when the entire world is screaming the same thing — doctor, I came home. He had a fever. He stopped speaking and then he became autistic. I can’t — I can see if it was just one parent saying this. But when so many — and I speak to thousands of moms every weekend and they’re all standing up and saying the same thing. It’s time to start listening to that. That is science-based information. Parents’ anecdotal is science-based information…

KING: Jenny, will you agree that some cases have nothing to do with vaccines, which makes it more puzzling?

MCCARTHY: Absolutely. You know, environmental toxins play a role. Viruses play a role. Those are all triggers. But vaccines play the largest role right now and something needs to be done. You know, testing these kids for immune issues, you know, that would help so much, changing the schedule. You know, I don’t understand — as a precautionary measure, why don’t they do this?

If everyone is screaming this and they’re so worried about parents going into offices right now telling the pediatrician j everyone is going I’m too scared to vaccinate my child. This is the new parents’ number one fear — I am afraid to vaccinate.

I am not trying to start this global non-vaccinating world. I’m trying to implement change.

[From Transcripts.CNN.com]

Jenny says that her son Evan hasn’t “recovered,” but that he no longer qualifies as autistic for special services. She compared it to being hit by a bus. You can get better but you’re never quite the same. She called him a “a wonderful example of hope and possibility for parents out there.”

They had journalist David Kirby, the author of “Evidence of Harm” on. He discussed the case of Hannah Polling, in which the “vaccine court,” a special court created by the US government to shield the pharmaceutical companies from large lawsuits, ruled that vaccines did contribute to Polling’s autism. In that case Kirby notes that Polling had an underlying mitochondrial disorder that was exacerbated by the vaccines. Kirby says, like McCarthy, he’s not anti-vaccination but thinks that the schedule should be individualized to each child. He said you could for example specifically test for the genetic defect that causes a mitochondrial dysfunction and make sure that those children, who are genetically more susceptible to autism, be given less vaccinations at once.

At the end of the show there was a panel of doctors trying to sum up the issue. Earlier they discussed the importance of vaccination and how childhood illnesses have been eradicated. The discussion got heated and McCarthy plainly said “that’s bullshit” when one doctor said vaccines have been a boon to families. She said “my son died in front of me,” and talked about how her son died for two minutes and went into cardiac arrest. She asked “are we considered acceptable losses?”

Clip of McCarthy saying “that’s bullshit!”

I clipped the rest of the show and the links are below if you would like to watch it. This is an important issue that touches so many families and I can’t imagine the heartbreak of having a child with autism. Good for Jenny for having the courage to speak out about this. There are no clear-cut answers and there needs to be more study into this, but it seems as if the pharmaceutical companies have been shielded from scrutiny due to the reasonable fear that people will stop vaccinating.

Larry read out a statement from Jim Carrey at the end of the show that “Vaccines are more a profit engine than a means of prevention. And that’s why there are so many vaccines.”

Jenny and Jim Carrey will lead a march on Washington on June 4th, and you can learn about it on GenerationRescue.org

MCCARTHY: Jim and I are going to lead a march and rally in Washington, D.C. And I’m announcing it right here on June 4th. You can go on GenerationRescue.org for more information. We will be there and we’re asking every parent that can make it there in Washington on that day, every grandma, mom, dad, to be there with us marching, rallying. You have a voice that day.

KING: Are you raising money?

MCCARTHY: Oh, no. This is a day — you know, I’ve been talking to parents across the country, thousands of them. And they’re so dying to have a voice one day. So we’re bringing the media. We’re bringing the attention, and now I’m asking every parent that’s watching this right now, come there that day and you will be heard.

KING: Where do you go online?

MCCARTHY: GenerationRescue.org.

Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 1
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 2
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 3
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 4
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 5
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 6
Jenny McCarthy on Larry King Live 4/2/08, Part 7