Preston, actor and wife of Travolta, dies

LOS ANGELES — Kelly Preston, who played dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire” to Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins,” died Sunday, husband John Travolta said. She was 57.

Travolta said in an Instagram post that his wife of 28 years died after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

“It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,” Travolta said. “She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many.”

The couple had three children together.

“Shocked by this sad news,” Maria Shriver said on Twitter. “Kelly was such a bright loving soul, a talented actress, and a loving mom and wife. My heart breaks for her family who have already known such sadness and grief.”

Born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith on Oct. 13, 1962, in Honolulu, Preston had a lengthy acting career in movies and television beginning in the 1980s, including the 1985 teen comedy “Mischief,” 1986’s “Space Camp” and her breakthrough, 1988’s “Twins.” Preston played Marnie, the woman who marries Schwarzenegger’s character.

Preston was first married to actor Kevin Gage. They divorced in 1987.

A year later, Preston met Travolta while shooting the 1989 film “The Experts,” a box-office flop about a Soviet KGB agent who hires hip New Yorkers to update the spy program’s understanding of American society. They meet on the dance floor after Travolta asks, “Does anyone here know how to dance.” Preston responds: “I know how to dance.”

They were married in 1991 at a midnight ceremony in Paris while expecting their first son, Jett.

Preston starred opposite Kevin Costner in the 1999 film “For the Love of the Game.”

Preston gave one of her most well-received performances in “Jerry Maguire” as the ex-fiancee of Cruise’s sports agent who dumps him early in the movie. The Daily News called her “icily effective.”

In January 2009, Jett Travolta, 16, died after a seizure at the family’s vacation home in the Bahamas.

In addition to Jett and Ella Bleu, who was born in 2000, the couple had son Benjamin in 2010. Ella wrote on Instagram Sunday: “I have never met anyone as courageous, strong, beautiful and loving as you. Anyone who is lucky enough to have known you or to have ever been in your presence will agree that you have a glow and a light that never ceases to shine and that makes anyone around you feel instantly happy.”

“Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered,” Travolta said on Instagram.