John Travolta Remembers His Late Son Jett On What Would Have Been His 33rd Birthday

Baila Eve ZismanApril 17, 2025, 1:32 amNews >

In an Instagram post, John Travolta posted a birthday tribute to his late son Jett on what would have been his 33rd birthday.

The photo showed Travolta with Jett as a young boy in his arms playing with his ears. He captioned the post, “Happy birthday Jett – I miss you so much,” and added, “Love you forever!”

Travolta and his late wife, Kelly Preston, shared three children: Jett, their daughter Ella Bleu, 25, and their son Benjamin, 14. In January 2009, at the age of 16, Jett had a seizure and hit his head on a bathtub at a hotel in the Bahamas while on vacation with the family.

In 2014, Travolta described Jett’s death as “the worst thing that’s ever happened” in his life. Speaking at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London at the time, he said, “The truth is, I didn’t know if I was going to make it…life was no longer interesting to me, so it took a lot to get me better.”

He credited his religion, Scientology, with supporting him through the years of grief “Monday through Sunday.”

Shortly following Jett’s birth in 1994, Travolta told People, “I can’t imagine what life would be like without Jett…After he was born and cleaned up, I held him for hours while Kelly slept. When they came to take him away for various tests, I said, ‘No, you can’t see him today. You’ll have to do it another day,’ I went a little nuts.”

Preston died at the age of 57 in July 2020 following her diagnosis of breast cancer. In an Instagram post at the time, Travolta announced, “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…She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many. My family and I will forever be grateful to her doctors and nurses at MD Anderson Cancer Center, all the medical centers that have helped, as well as her many friends and loved one who have been by her side.

Travolta posted another tribute on March 4 for the death of his former costar Gene Hackman, who died at 95 on February 27. In an Instagram story, Travolta shared a photo of himself and Hackman on the set of Get Shorty in 1995, writing, “I really enjoyed my time with Gene. Great conversations and very funny too.” He added, “So easy to act with and always brilliant! I’ll miss you Gene!”