John Travolta Says 'Life Has Tested Me' but He Looks for the 'Positive' After Dedicating New Film to His Late Wife and Son
John Travolta Says 'Life Has Tested Me' but He Looks for the 'Positive' After Dedicating New Film to His Late Wife and Son
Adam EnglandTue, June 2, 2026 at 2:01 PM UTC
0
Kelly Preston and John Travolta in 2018
Credit: Dave Kotinsky/Getty
-
John Travolta has said it's in his nature to stay optimistic and look for the positives in life after experiencing pain, with the actor losing his son, Jett Travolta, and his wife, Kelly Preston, in 2009 and 2020 respectively
The 72-year-old has dedicated his new film, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, to the two of them, along with his parents and siblings
"I'm not made to remain absorbed in the darkness," he told an Italian newspaper. "I can look at the darkness, but I don't choose to die in that darkness"
John Travolta has opened up about how he continues to find light in his life after experiencing profound personal loss.
The actor, 72, lost his son Jett Travolta in 2009, when he was 16, after he had a seizure that caused a fall. Eleven years later, in 2020, his wife Kelly Prestondied at the age of 57, two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Travolta told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica that he dedicated his new film, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, to the two of them, as well as his parents and siblings.
"I dedicated the film to Kelly, to my son Jett, to my brothers and sisters, to my mother and my father, because they are the model from which this film was born," he said.
John Travolta and Kelly Preston with son Jett Travolta and daughter Ella Bleu Travolta
Credit: Rogers and Cowan via Getty
When asked how he was able to stay optimistic despite experiencing so much pain and loss, he told the outlet that, while "life has certainly tested me," it's his "nature is to look for the positive, even in the face of the worst."
"I'm not made to remain absorbed in the darkness," Travolta continued. "I can look at the darkness, but I don't choose to die in that darkness."
Based on his own first flight as a child and inspired by his 1997 children's book of the same name, Propeller One-Way Night Coach is semi-autobiographical.
The film, which also stars Travolta's daughter, 26-year-old Ella Bleu Travolta, is a family movie that shows the U.S. in 1962 through the eyes of 8-year-old Jeff. It doesn't shy away from difficult historical themes, including Nazi concentration camps, but remains anchored in the perspective of a child.
"I wanted this sincerity," he said of the film. "A child's hope and resilience are unique; we adults have forgotten what that means. As a child, I always looked at the glass half full; I thought life could be better."
John Travolta and Ella Bleu Travolta at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where John premiered 'Propeller One-Way Night Coach' on May 16
Credit: Samir Hussein/WireImage
He continued, "Even when I heard terrible news, like when the film talks about the concentration camps, or when the madman appears, he sees darkness and pain, then quickly gets up again."
Advertisement
Travolta said he hopes people will "rediscover that gaze of hope," explaining that back in 1962, when the movie is set, "we weren't so overwhelmed by the obligation to always look at the dark side of life."
He presented his film at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where he received a surprise honorary Palme d'Or, and he looked back at his first appearance there, for Pulp Fiction.
The movie premiered at the festival in 1994, and it was the first time Travolta, who played Vincent Vega in the movie, had seen it himself. "I was sitting there with my wife at the screening at the Palais. The scene from Jack Rabbit Slims arrives, the one where Uma [Thurman] and I enter the restaurant. My character is high, high, in that kind of daze," he told La Repubblica.
"I watch the Marilyn Monroe and James Dean lookalikes walk by, I point at them with that gesture, and the editing cuts to the back of my neck. My wife grabs me and says, 'Honey, do you realize what this film is about?' I discovered it along with the world. It's my strongest memory."
Elsewhere in the interview, he remembered his mother, Helen Travolta, who died aged 66 in 1978, describing her as a "kind, cultured, generous woman" who was a "brilliant actress" and "loved her family deeply."
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Meanwhile, Ella Bleu, who plays Doris, a flight attendant, paid tribute to her parents at the movie's New York City premiere, telling PEOPLE that both of her parents had always been supportive of her decision to follow them into the entertainment industry.
"Even if I decided to do something else in the end, they would have been supportive of that, too," she said. "But I think that they were happy because they enjoy this job so much, and I have an equal love for it. So I think that they were just happy that I enjoyed doing something that much."
Travolta and Preston also shared son Benjamin, who turns 16 in November.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
