Posted on 01/03/2009 10:55:59 PM PST by libh8er
A day after the death of his son, Jett, John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston remain in shock, a friend of the family tells PEOPLE.
"He never dreamed of this – their relationship was so close,” says family attorney Mike Ossi, who is in the Bahamas with the actor. "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."
According to Ossi, 16-year-old Jett was discovered by a nanny on Friday morning around 10 a.m. After the nanny called 911, John Travolta tried in vain to resuscitate his son.
"He didn't want anything to happen to that boy, and he kept on trying to revive him," said Ossi. "He did mouth-to-mouth until they had to physically remove John to take Jett to the hospital."
The teen, who is the only son of Travolta, 54, and Preston, 46, has a history of having seizures. Police spokeswoman Loretta Mackey told the Associated Press that Jett hit his head in a bathtub Friday morning and was declared dead at Rand Memorial Hospital.
According to Ossi, around 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 1, John said goodnight to his son, who was tired from a long day spent on the water with his family. Jett went to his room with his nanny. "He always had a nanny by his side because he had a history of seizures," says Ossi. "John took extra precautions. [Jett] was never alone."
Mike McDermott, John's corporate counsel, adds, "John did everything in his power to revive [his son.] John and Jett had a very strong relationship. Words cannot explain how close they were. This will take a lot of time. His life will never be the same again."
It’s a terrible thing when a parent buries a child.
Who wouldn’t be heartbroken? I’m heartbroken for him.
Sounds like clunking his head was secondary to a seizure. Anybody know his cause of seizures?
Poor guy. Hope they can work through it and recover somehow. Even the most powerful people are susceptible to random tragedies.
You can have all the wealth in the world but at the end of the day you are not immune from basic human suffering like bereavement. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be him right now.
Jett was 16. That is extremely sad. But please tell me that the nanny was for a different kid. Do rich people usually have nannies for their 16 year olds?
John and his wife have always been great examples of what a family should be...they are not big scene junkies like so many stars are. The loss of their son is so very sad and we can only imagine how desperately heartbroken they are.
They need our sympathy and a prayer for strength and comfort at this terrible trying time. There are just no words that are adequate to soothe their savaged hearts.
According to the reports I read, Jett was always near to or accompanied by a nanny because he was subject to seizures.
One would presume, though, that he showered alone. That of course would explain why he wasn’t found until the next day.
They aren't just feasting on pain. They have trivialized it almost to the point of mockery. Almost every single article covering John Travolta's son's death on USAToday had the same caption photo alongside the headline as you see HERE
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Travolta family
in this hour of loss and pain.
Tet68
I made a call on a seventeen year old that had a seizure swimming in a motel swimming pool. He drowned. His father was in their room, maybe a dozen yards away and didn't know anything about it. Telling someone their child is dead sucks. No matter how you phrase it, you know what you're really saying is, "Hi there, I'm here to tell you something that will totally fubar the rest of your life."
“What a society we are- accepting of when the press feasts on pain”
I think this is a type of pornography, that is just as insidious, and more harmful, as viewing writhing bodies.
Some reports said he had autism which is linked in some to seizures.
He was autistic and needed supervision.
Very, very sad. May they have some sort of decent privacy in which to grieve—like one ever fully grieves the loss of a child. I believe that is impossible. We can only feel comforted that they have either lived well in the time they had, or are with God and His angels, or both. Prayers for the family.
Maybe nitpicking here--but really? Its sad, but the whole world is mourning? I dunno--maybe if they introduced the LAWYER as a spokesman for the Travolta family, I could buy that-- Its like when those young men snowmobiling in BC and died in an avalanche. The press asked one of the survivors if he will be snowmobiling anytime soon. I mean come on...
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