Former Scientology members and friends suggest that the actor is in a make-or-break situation right now.
It's been three months since John Travolta's wife passed away after a two-year-long private battle with breast cancer. Kelly Preston was 57 years old when she died. After her demise, a family representative said, "On the morning of July 12, 2020, Kelly Preston, adored wife, and mother, passed away following a two-year battle with breast cancer."
In the exclusive statement to People, the rep continued, "Choosing to keep her fight private, she had been undergoing medical treatment for some time, supported by her closest family and friends." However, Travolta faced a lot of trouble for choosing chemotherapy for his wife's treatment as the Church of Scientology opposed it. It reached a point where it was a "make-or-break" situation for the Grease actor after being a devotee for 45 years, as per The Daily Mail.
The Pulp Fiction actor shared the tragic news on his Instagram page in July noting that Preston "fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many." Expressing his gratitude towards the medical staff who looked after his wife, the 66-year-old added, "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 ones who have been by her side."
The cancer center situated in Huston is known as the best medical facility in the United States for cancer treatment and care, reported The Daily Mail. Looking at Travolta's courageous act of defiance, many former Scientology members and friends came forward in support of the actor suggesting he's "breaking away from the Church."
Jeffrey Augustine, a former member of the Church who's criticized it before, told the publication that the founder L Ron Hubbard was "really opposed to chemotherapy and radiation." Talking about the actor's statement he said, "The statement was unequivocal in the support of medical staff... It shows they've backed away from Scientology. It'll hurt to lose your wife of 30 years... there will be grief, it's human."
Pointing out the absence of gratitude towards the Church, Augustine continued, "There's no acknowledgment in that statement of Scientology, David Miscavige, or auditing, there's nothing - that's critical, he took care of it in his own hands, this is a personal matter, like 'I don't need the Church.'"
According to The Daily Mail, Hubbard in his lecture back in November 1959 had said that "cancer is not caused... it always requires a second-dynamic or sexual upset, such as the loss of children or some other mechanism to bring about a condition known as cancer." Augustine further revealed that even though Hubbard was against chemotherapy and radiation, the people soon realized that "it [auditing] doesn't work when it comes to serious diseases."
Applauding the way Travolta handled the whole situation, Augustine said, "In the Church, they'd say you lost Jett, so that's why you got cancer, so we need to audit that out. [But] they did it with medicine. This was handled professionally and elegantly, I really admire the way he did it, he made Scientology a non-part of Kelly's death."
Sam Domingo who was one of the former VIP members of the Church and the daughter-in-law of legendary opera star Placido Domingo revealed that the Church would not provide the actor time for mourning as it "doesn't allow time for it." Why so? She explained that it is the Church's belief that humans keep reincarnating and have a million lives because the body they're in right now is just a shell.
She said, "Grief and feeling sad is very low on the 'harmonic [emotional] tone scale', a lot of them stay upbeat, be happy, it's very weird," and further added, "They believe the person has flown off, it's something to celebrate, they've gone off to get a new body. The concept of death is very different from normal."
After Preston's passing, Travolta's former security guard Brendon Tighe dubbed the situation "tragic" as the couple was "definitely each other's rock" through all their ups and downs. He also said that the Saturday Night Fever star might take some time off with his kids, Ella Bleu, 20, and Benjamin, 9, further suggesting that "his Scientology handlers will, of course, try to be there at every step, but he may not want the 'help' right away," reported The Mirror.
Tighe was right. In the actor's message on Instagram Travolta added that he "will be taking some time to be there for my children (Ella Bleu and Benjamin) who have lost their mother," he then apologized "in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while."
Travolta and Preston had been married for 30 years. In a recent tribute to Preston on what would have been her 58th birthday, he shared a picture of their nuptials alongside his parent's writing, "Happy Birthday hon! I found this photo of my mom and dad's wedding. It was nice to see ours alongside theirs. All my love, John."
References:
https://people.com/movies/kelly-preston-dies-of-breast-cancer-at-57/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/john-travolta-kelly-preston-scientology-22408399
