A tight-knit tribe! John Travolta and Kelly Preston have given fans glimpses into their family’s lives over the years before the actress’ death in July 2020.
The couple became parents when they welcomed their son Jett and daughter Ella in 1992 and 2000, respectively. When their eldest was 16, he died during a family vacation to the Bahamas — and Preston credited her religion for getting through that tough period.
“To be honest, [it was] the Scientology Center,” the Hawaii native told Health magazine in 2011. “I don’t know if I would have made it through without it.”
The Jerry Maguire star spoke more about her “enormous loss” the following year, telling Amanda de Cadenet: “Nobody should have to lose a child. It’s unfathomable. But I’m here to say that you can get through it. You can live again. You can want to live again.”
Preston went on to say, “People were so beautiful — so, so extraordinary from all over the world. Everybody grieves in their own way. I felt at times like I was drowning. It felt like a sea of wet blankets. And then I just peeled them off, layer by layer, so that I can now say, ‘I want to live. I love life. My life is beautiful and amazing.”
Seven years after Jett’s death, she and the Grease star welcomed their second son, Benjamin — and Preston has been “so different” since the little one’s 2010 arrival.
“Now I don’t drink anymore,” she told Cadenet in 2012. “I don’t smoke anymore. I don’t do drugs anymore. All of those come with an ‘anymore.’ I used to do everything and a lot of everything. With drinking, I just decided that I wasn’t always at my best. There were times where I drank too much, for sure. … When I didn’t drink, I felt amazing, and I woke up feeling amazing every single day.”
The couple, who wed in 1991, were “floored” when they found out Preston’s pregnancy news. She gushed, “I’d snuck out of bed and then came back and woke Johnny up in bed. We both started crying. It was wonderful.”
Travolta announced in July 2020 “with a heavy heart” that his wife had died after secretly battling breast cancer for two years.
Keep scrolling to see the late actress and her husband’s best moments with Jett, Ella and Benjamin, from red carpet shots to family photos.