It’s a weird time in the year for gossip, which might be why Us Weekly and People Mag are both running with odd cover stories this week. People Mag’s cover story is about the BTK Killer’s daughter, which seems like a “filler” true-crime story which could have been published at any time. Us Weekly also chose a more filler-like subject: John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s strong marriage. It’s weird because Us Weekly is now owned by AMI (American Media Inc), which owns the National Enquirer and other tabloids, all of which have run many, many stories about John Travolta’s shady double life with male lovers, and his abuse of massage therapists and all of that. It’s also shady because… Travolta seems to have given them some exclusive quotes, and because this piece is very positive about Scientology, an abusive cult that operates on slave labor.
John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s kids are their No. 1 priority. “Our children keep our interest in life very high,” the actor reveals exclusively in the new issue of Us Weekly. “Their future is very important to us.”
Travolta, 64, and Preston, 56, who tied the knot in 1991, are parents of daughter Ella, 18, and son Benjamin, 8. The couple’s eldest son, Jett, died in January 2009 after suffering a seizure. He was 16 years old. They kept the faith. When Jett died, the pair didn’t know how they were going to survive without him.
“It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened in my life,” the actor has said. “The truth is, I didn’t know if I was going to make it.”
Thankfully, the Church of Scientology was there to help them get back up. While the religion has its fair share of critics and skeptics, the Trading Point star, 64, credits it with his recovery after the family’s ordeal. “The church never left our sides for two years,” Travolta reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly. “I don’t know if I would have made it through without their support.”
Now, one decade later, the parents of daughter Ella, 18, and son Benjamin, 8, continue to be devout followers. He adds: “Our church is the number one thing that keeps us grounded.”
This is super-weird, right? I honestly feel like “live and let live” about most religions as long as people are not proselytizing, but that’s exactly what Travolta is doing: he’s proselytizing Scientology by putting a smile and a f–ked up wig on it. “While the religion has its fair share of critics and skeptics…” yeah, it’s a cult. An abusive cult. Enough. And why now? Why this moment? I feel like Travolta gave them this exclusive in exchange for AMI burying another story.
Cover courtesy of Us Weekly, additional photos courtesy of WENN.
Sigh….which male masseur did you sexually harass this time John.
“The church never left our sides for two years…”
Yeah…I’ll bet they didn’t. 😒 The death of that poor boy remains astoundingly shady…as does the arrival of the youngest child. All sooooo bizarre.
I thought his son had committed suicide?
…maybe? He was very autistic and got no treatment because scientology so it could be a tragic (and avoidable) accident or he ended his own life. Pretty sure we’ll never know.
The official cause of death is from a head injury from hitting his head on the bathtub during a seizure.
I read theories that he was thinking about leaving the cult and that the cult killed his son to get him back in line.
I follow a lot of Scientology stuff and I have to say I believe this is extremely unlikely. It is far wider believed that they kept Jed off critical medications that would have prevented seizures like the one that killed him.
Scientology has Travolta’s sexual orientation on lock, they don’t need to wipe out his son and that’s QUITE extreme even for Scientology (against a celebrity member? No), I just can’t really see it.
I had a very close friend that worked at the restaurant at the Celebrity Center in Hollywood and I picked her up there a couple of times and I also went up the old fashioned elevator by myself (don’t remember why) and when I got in the elevator Travolta was there in his pajamas and Jett was in just a diaper. I said hello and fawned over the toddler and he was friendly enough. COS definitely tried to recruit me to take classes, alone in a room and I still get emails from them randomly 20+ years later no matter how often I block them. My friend took some classes but never got very involved with them and it’s hard to remember the deets of her employment.
Another scandal buried for now….but the sharks smell blood in the water
You nailed it. They must have had something BIG on him to agree to this interview.
Strange to have a pro Co$ article. What forces are coming into play here? What does Co$ have on the publisher? Has Co$ a plant in the publishing company to legitimize themselves?
So many questions….
After learning yesterday that Hearst publishing executives tried to kill the Bryan Singer sex abuse story (even though it was cleared by their own legal department!), and given how quiet so many sites have been on the Singer story? I think we all need to be side eyeing the HELL out of publishing companies!!
They’ve been CRAZY QUIET. Plus you know they went to the New Yorker first because that’s who published the Weinstein story so I have to assume the New Yorker turned it down too.
Interesting shade in the choice of cover photos! Travolta’s hairline advanced between the older photo and the new one! (I know it’s a wiglet but still…)
If Marty Rathbun rejoined the church, as Jezebel speculated in a recent article, I can imagine he’s back to using his experience/talent to craft PR and keep Travolta in line.
After everything they put him through and did to him and his ex-wife, for him to go back is just unbelievable. I think he’s definitely back in the fold though, nothing else explains his attacks on Scientology critics and defectors.
I want to know where Ben Travolta really came from.
Almost certainly the Sea Org.
US weekly put the trump kids on the cover during the campaign so they’re not the best
That’s because it’s owned by AMI, which is run by David Pecker, Trump’s best buddy (at least before he testified against him.) All of those tabloids ran glowing stories about Trump before the election.
The way ppl took photos of Jett when he was passed & tried to sell them on was so outrageously disgusting. Something like that could have broken either of his parents. Glad they both came through stronger with another loved child. ok. Theres lots of regular hwood shadiness. Just give the guy a little break.
This is very weird. Very.
Considering all the ugly truths that have come to light about COS, it is very odd to me they’d run a pro piece, without some sort of leverage or hidden scandal.
No parent should lose their child like that. And no kid should be made to suffer and die because of a “church”.
I got nothing to say about CO$ but that boy’s death still makes me so sad.
People magazines cover story is promotion for their ID channel show. It’s called people magazine investigates.
Did you see Travolta’s ‘natural’ look st this recent event:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/tvshowbiz/video-1844906/Video-John-Travolta-asked-Jeff-Bezos-split-signs-autographs.html
I think it’s pretty well established CO$ does illegal things (child labour, slave labour, etc) but because they don’t have a huge membership in terms of people numbers (though they do have a very wealthy membership and a lot of real estate), the US government seems to have just let it be. I think the IRS tried to take them on years back and the members launched hundreds of vexacious lawsuits. These people shouldn’t be held up as sympathetic public figures by any celeb gossip rag; they’re victims, complicit in these activities, or both. But yes, I did catch Tom Cruise’s latest MI film though I shouldn’t have.
I guess a surreptitious, uncritical fluff piece about one of your cult’s most popular followers never hurts after the horrific PR the CO$ has had over the last few weeks.
What with Rimini’s Danny Masterton and her follow the cult money trail episodes, the spectacular backfire of their attempt to rewrite history about the murder of a CO$ member in Australia as a teenage son tried to rescue his mum… the list goes on.
What’s up with that weird ampersand?