The Truth About Kelly Preston And John Travolta's Relationship

Kelly Preston tragically passed away on July 12, 2020, after battling breast cancer for two years. Preston's death has left her husband, John Travolta, devastated. The couple have been together for decades, first meeting at a screen test for the 1989 film The Experts (per People).

For Travolta, it was love at first sight, even though Preston was married to actor Kevin Gage at the time. When asked on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen if it was love at first sight for her as well, she answered, "Kinda. Well, I was not that happily married, let's put it that way. I was really with the wrong person."

While Preston was impressed when she first met Travolta, the couple didn't get together right away. Following her divorce from Gage, Preston was briefly involved with George Clooney and then engaged to Charlie Sheen. After Sheen and Preston broke up in 1990, the actress started seeing Travolta.

In 1991, Preston and Travolta went to Switzerland where Travolta proposed on New Year's Eve with a six carat diamond ring. Preston revealed to ET shortly after her engagement that she couldn't wait to have kids. "We plan to have some babies," she said. "We're practicing right now. This could be barefoot and pregnant for the next 10 years."

The couple married later that year, first eloping in Paris because, as Preston explained on Live with Kelly and Ryan, they wanted to escape the pressure of wedding planning. They later held a second wedding in the U.S. so they could celebrate with family and friends. The couple ended up having three children together: Jett, Ella, and Benjamin. Jett, who had an autoimmune disease called Kawasaki syndrome, passed away in 2009 after suffering from seizures.

The loss devastated Preston, who cherished her memories of Jett for the rest of her life as evidenced by her social media posts — including her very last Instagram post, which included a photo of Travolta and Jett. Preston also opened up about her son in the caption of a 2019 Instagram photo in which she and Travolta kiss Jett. "To my sweet love, Jett... you are in our hearts forever," she wrote.

While many couples prefer to keep their work lives and home lives separate, for Travolta and Preston they were often one and the same. They worked on several films together, starting with The Experts, which brought them together. As noted by Cheat Sheet, the couple also starred together in Battlefield Earth, Old Dogs, and Gotti. Preston also had a cameo in From Paris with Love, which starred Travolta.

Preston spoke to ET about what it was like to work with her husband on the set of Gotti, in which Travolta played mob boss John Gotti and she played his wife, Victoria. "We have the friendship and we have the rapport, so you can see the intimacy," she said. "For us to be in a movie where we're playing other people is so much fun, and that's what we kind of live for — to have that creative experience together."

Preston and Travolta's relationship was, by all accounts, a happy one for the nearly 30 years they were together. In 2017, the couple revealed the secret to their long relationship to Closer Weekly. "We really care deeply about each other and we protect each other — and we keep [our relationship] up to date," said Travolta.

Preston added, "Keep checking in and keep growing and changing. Keep doing things, just the two of you."

Travolta penned a heartbreaking tribute to his wife on Instagram after her death. "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," he wrote. "She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many. 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. 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."