A BEAUTIFUL SOUL
The world remembers Hollywood icon Kelly Preston
HER FAMILY AND THE WORLD MOURNS THE LOSS OF THE ACTRESS
Kelly Preston was brave until the very end. In an emotional tribute to Preston, who passed away on July 12 after a private two-year battle with breast cancer, aged 57, her husband of 28 years, Hollywood superstar, John Travolta wrote that his “beautiful wife … fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many”. “Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered,” the 66-year-old Pulp Fiction star said. “I will be taking some time to be there for my children, who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while. But please know that I will feel your outpouring of love in the weeks and months ahead as we heal.”
News of Preston’s struggle with breast cancer came as a surprise to many people. In a statement, a rep for her family said the actress, star of such movies as 1996’s Jerry Maguire and 1986’s SpaceCamp, was “undergoing medical treatment for some time, supported by her closest family and friends”.
The rep added: “She was a bright, beautiful and loving soul who cared deeply about others and who brought life to everything she touched.”
For Travolta, it’s yet another devastating tragedy, after he and Preston lost their son Jett
at age 16 in January 2009. Jett had suffered seizures since he was a child and on this occasion, he fell and hit his head mid-seizure. Doctors were sadly unable to revive him.
“It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened in my life,” Travolta, told Us Weekly last year. “The truth is, I didn’t know if I was going to make it.”
Speaking in an interview with Lifetime, Preston, also spoke of the terrible pain of losing their son. “Nobody should have to lose a child,” she said. “It’s unfathomable.” The couple also shared Ella, 20, and 9-year-old son, Benjamin.
Travolta has suffered more than his share of shocking losses. And what’s even more tragic is losing Preston wasn’t the first loved one he’d lost to breast cancer.
In March 1977, the Grease star’s girlfriend at the time, actress Diana Hyland, died of breast cancer in his arms. “I felt the breath go out of her,” Travolta, who met Hyland on the set of The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, told WHO’s sister publication, People at the time.
Born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Preston’s first major movie role was in 1985’s Mischief, before going on to have success in movies such as 1988’s Twins and later, 1999’s For the Love of the Game. In 2004, she appeared in the film clip for Maroon 5’s for ‘She Will Be Loved’ and, a year after Jett’s death, appeared in 2010’s The Last Song alongside Miley Cyrus and her future husband, Liam Hemsworth.
Preston and Travolta’s romance began, in true Hollywood fashion, at a screen test for the 1989 comedy The Experts. At the time, she was married to fellow actor Kevin Gage. She would later date George Clooney and was briefly engaged to Charlie Sheen, before getting together with Travolta.
“She came in this, this gorgeous woman,” Travolta told Us Weekly while promoting the
mobster movie, Gott in 2018 in which he starred opposite his wife, and which turned out to be her final film role. “We had an immediate chemistry.” Preston also recalled the day well: “I see, no lie, coming across the hall with his two dogs, this really hot guy. Then he stops and says hello. And I was like, ‘Oh s--t. Kill me now’. You know, like, ‘Oh my God’. And that was my first meeting with him.”
Travolta plucked up the courage to propose to Preston at the Palace Hotel restaurant in Gstaad, Switzerland, on New
Year’s Eve, 1990, with a six-carat yellow-and-white diamond ring.
They married on September 5,
1991, in Paris, at a ceremony performed by a Scientology minister, as they were both practising Scientologists. A second wedding took place at Daytona Beach, Florida, at which Preston was said to be two months pregnant with their son Jett.
While some have speculated on the nature of their relationship over the years, the couple’s love has endured. In September, they celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary, and Preston’s post to Travolta was achingly sweet: “To my dearest Johnny, the most wonderful man I know. You have given me hope when I have felt lost, loved me patiently and unconditionally … made me laugh harder than any other human being possible … shared the most beautiful highs and at times low. You’re a dream Daddio and make life so much fun!! I trust my love with you implicitly … with you I know I will always be okay no matter what happens … I love you forever and completely.”
Preston’s greatest role was as a wife and mother. Her final post in June was a family selfie with the words: “Happy Father’s Day to the best one I know, we love you.”
“John and I had an immediate chemistry” PRESTON