Travolta's Son Dies In Accident

Jett, 16, Had Disease That May Have Caused Seizure At Vacation Home

(CBS/AP)  John Travolta's teenage son, Jett, died in the Bahamas after apparently suffering a seizure and hitting his head at his family's vacation home, authorities said Friday.

A house caretaker found Jett, 16, unconscious in a bathroom late Friday morning. He was taken by ambulance to a Freeport hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Police Superintendent Basil Rahming said in a statement.

The teenager had last been seen entering the bathroom on Thursday and had a history of seizures, according to the statement. An autopsy is planned.

Family attorney Michael Ossi said in a statement that Jett died suddenly on Friday. Publicists Samantha Mast and Paul Block released the statement but could not be reached for additional comment.

"Jett was very happy every day of his life. The Travolta are great parents. We are all deeply saddened by what's occurred," Ossi said, according to CBS News correspondent Manuel Gallegus.

A local police source said Jett apparently hit his head on the bathtub.

Jett was the oldest child of Travolta, 54, and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, 46, who also have an 8-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu.

Preston has said that Jett became very sick when he was 2 years old and was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, an illness that leads to inflammation of the blood vessels in young children. She blamed household cleaners and fertilizers, and said that a detoxification program based on teachings from the Church of Scientology helped improve his health, according to People magazine.

It is unclear whether Jett was taking any medications for his seizures.

The Scientology Celebrity Center in Los Angeles declined to comment. Both Travolta and Preston are practicing Scientologists.

A spokeswoman for Rand Memorial Hospital in Freeport said she could not release any information because of privacy concerns.

The family had arrived in the Bahamas on a private plane Tuesday and was vacationing at their home in the Old Bahama Bay resort community.

"The Travolta family has become like family to us at Old Bahama Bay and we extend our deepest sympathies to them," said Robert Gidel, president of Ginn Resorts, the property's owner.

Family friend and Tampa-based attorney Michael McDermott told the Ocala Star-Banner on Friday that Travolta was "broken up" and noted that "Kelly's very quiet."

"Just say a prayer for them," he added. "That's all you can do at this point."

McDermott said that one of Travolta's close associates was making funeral arrangements in Ocala, Florida, where Travolta has a home.

Travolta, who gained fame as Vinnie Barbarino on the 1970s television show "Welcome Back, Kotter" and the 1977 film "Saturday Night Fever," went on to become one of Hollywood's biggest names. He married Preston in 1991.

A television actress, Preston appeared with Travolta in the 2000 film "Battlefield Earth," based on a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

[tredding2007]

The last I read the Constitution of the US protects our choice to practice or not practice the faith of our choice. Worship the God of our choice or not worship at all. This has nothing to do with religion, God, or spaceships.

It has to do with a young 16 year old man, who was mentally challenged. Two loving parents who worked hard to provide for their family.

Let''s face it, in the US our beautiful country which was once a free nation. Has been taken over by Christianity. If you aren''t christian, you aren''t anything, and you aren''t going to heaven and you are not a viable American. Your going to burn in hell for all eternity.

I''m so sick of all the bickering about religion and beliefs. We do live in a country that protects our right to practice the faith of our choice and worship the God of our choice. Many don''t like that and would like to pull a hittler on us and make us worship the one and only true God and His Son Jesus and destroy any and all other faiths or belief systems. John and Kelly my sincere sympathy on the loss of your much loved son. I''m sorry people are so unkind at such a terrible time in any parents life. Jett, if you see this I hope things are better now and forgive the people who see you only as a blubbering, slobbering retarted young boy, who was abused by his father and mother. I doubt that many will believe such nonesense. Enjoy your afterlife little Angel.

[likeitis5050]

Must be another form of disturbing pathology borne of Christianity, these Scientology stalking sociopaths and their compulsion for detail most of us wouldn''''t even bother to notice, let alone give a *** about -- considering the wealth of disgust and crime carried about by Christians and every single minute of every single given day.


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Posted by samael2014

You sound very credible and of sound mind....not. Shut up. This isn''t the time for your anti-anything rants that universally lump and charge everyone in any given group with your tiny little slights and grudges. Get over yourself, educate yourself, and while you''re at it...GTFU!!

[violets4me]

My God people they just lost their soon...is there any reason to sit here and make so many jokes and stupid remarks. How would you feel if it was your child who died. What is wrong with everyone???? I really think we all need to really get in touch with reality here. Prayer for you and your family John and Kelly

[element51]

b4ucmyl......Appparently your reading skills are somewhat limited. No where in my post did I try to tell people what they could or couldn''t say. I simply asked the question, " why can''t you just wish them peace and keep your snotty snide comments to yourself?" That is called a question. It is not a demand. I suggest that in the future you make sure that you understand something before commenting on it.

[samthetvcat]

Posted by Xlib

It sounds like medication does work really well with proper vigilance - the girl down the street from me growing up if she did have epilepsy and it wasn''t just neighborhood gossip seemed to have other afflictions so maybe that''s what complicated her situation, like maybe she would eat candy behind her parent''s back which might have messed up her blood stream and stuff . . . I guess children are maybe a different case or something I don''t know . . .

[xlib]

samthecat-for anti-siezure medication to work a certain blood level of the medication must be maintained. In other words, to all the genious posters here, regular blood tests are given to assure that the proper level of the medication is in the blood stream to prevent siezures. Some things may prevent that even if taking the meidication a perscribed. In this instance, if he did have a siezure, and went into a condition known as status eplepticus (sustained siezures), he could have fallen, hit his head and died.
What is interesting with the posts is the number of people who are sooooo quick to pass judgement on the family. Just love it.
I particularly love the poster who said "an obviously autistic child". Such intelligience, such insight. Amazing.

[airboatboy1]

An intense light.

Francesco Sinibaldi




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Posted by Sinibaldi1 at 05:32 PM : Jan 03, 2009



Real moving. Don''t give up your day job.

[kirstinharr]

1. The Bahamas is not the place to vacation with your children...just ask Anna Nicole Smith.

2. Scientology is not a Church, nor is it a religion and is likely responsible for the lack of proper care for an obviously autistic child.

[barbaraf4]

If this were my child with a potentially fatal disease, and I belonged to the Scientology Church, and I let them treat him by "clearing" or whatever other nonsense they use, I would expect to have the authorities remove my child from my home and take him to a "real" doctor. It happens every day.

[samthetvcat]

I''m not sure but I''m not sure that anti-seizure medication works all the time anyways because there was a girl down the street when I was growing up who died the exact same way at the exact same age and everybody knew she had epilepsy and they''d have had her on medication.

She had the exact same sort of ''affect'' that the Travolta''s son seemed to have - a little sort of ''slow'', and she was getting sick all the time with pneumonia and stuff.

I think the lesson if any in this tragedy is maybe that for older kids prone to seizures, parents sort of want to give them privacy in the bathroom, but maybe it''s just too dangerous, even if the seizures seem like they''re being managed (?)

Like it can''t be that much of a fluke occurrence if this isn''t the first case in my life of somebody dying like this :(