Five years ago today, John Travolta's wife Kelly Preston lost her battle to breast cancer. The Grease actor has been open about his struggles with grief over her passing.
"The most important thing you can do to help another when they are in mourning," John, 71, told Esquire Spain. "Is to allow them to live it and not complicate it with yours."
John continued that people's grief can sometimes feel bigger than what you're experiencing, but that he learned it's better to let them cope on their own.
© Getty"Even though it's great to have company, sometimes it becomes like you're helping them, rather than putting yourself to work overcoming feelings of loss and grief," John explained.
John remembered people trying to comfort him after Kelly's death, but that he "felt so saturated with everyone's sadness" that he "didn't know what do it."
John and Kelly's 30 year love story
John and Kelly met in 1987 while filming The Experts while she was married to actor Kevin Gage.
"Well, I was not that happily married, let's put it that way," Kelly told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live. "I was really with the wrong person."
© Getty ImagesOn September 5, 1991, John and Kelly married in Paris in a ceremony officiated by a Scientology minister. The next year, they welcomed their son Jett. Eight years later, the couple welcomed their second child, Ella Bleu, now 25. Ella followed in her parents' footsteps and starred in The Poison Rose alongside her dad and Morgan Freeman.
"Still in absolute awe of my stunning daughter @ella.travolta," Kelly shared to Instagram at the time. "I just re-watched all of her interviews this past week doing press for #thepoisonrose and she has jumped into 'the family business' as an absolute natural."
Tragically, in 2009, John and Kelly's son Jett died at just 16 after suffering a seizure and hitting his head in a bathtub.
© Getty Images"[John] never dreamed of this — their relationship was so close," the family attorney Mike Ossi said at the time. "He always said, 'I'm happy as long as my kids are happy.' He is heartbroken. To bury your son is the worst thing you can ever do."
A year later, the couple welcomed their son Benjamin. After his birth, John told PEOPLE: "He's given the house a renewed spirit."
Kelly's private battle with breast cancer
Kelly was a dedicated mother and wife. In 2018, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, keeping the prognosis private. On July 12, 2020, John wrote to Instagram: "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."
© InstagramHe continued: "Kelly's love and life will always be remembered. 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."
Kelly was just 57 when she passed.
