He loved aviation as a child but surprised himself and others when he pursued an entirely different career.
Twenty-eight years after he married his wife, he mourned her death and talked about what she meant to him.
After much tragedy, he is happy with his children and current life.
Growing up in New Jersey, this young man’s father was a semi-professional football player who owned a tire shop. However, the young man was not interested in either as a potential career.
Instead, he thought he might work at the airport as a baggage handler or ticket salesman, as he had taken an interest in the industry when his high school offered an aviation class. Yet he also didn’t end up working in aviation.
![](https://viralhatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AFT-243.png)
Now, he admits that he has always been impatient, saying he was impatient as a child and teenager and is still impatient as an adult. He shared:
“I was the kind of guy who said, ‘If I hit 25 and I’m not making a mark in this business, tell me to do something else.’”
Instead of following in his father’s footsteps or pursuing his love for aviation, which started at age 15, the young man decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps and try to act.
John Travolta Mourned Kelly Preston
The young man in question is John Travolta, who burst onto the Hollywood scene at just 18 years old, starring in many famous titles throughout his life like “Grease,” “Look Who’s Talking,” and “Saturday Night Fever.”
![John Travolta and Kelly Preston at the New York Friars Club dinner honoring them as "Man and Woman of the Year" in 1997 | Source: Getty Images](https://viralhatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/a862284d5f9d551edaf912de2fdc19b7438b940efa9499aaed1e561c9431ead1.jpg)
During his career, he married Kelly Preston, a fellow actor he met during a screen test for a production called “The Experts.” Preston was married then but revealed that she was with the wrong person.
Travolta and Preston met in 1989; by 1991, Travolta had asked for Preston’s hand in marriage. The couple married nine months after Travolta proposed and lived a beautiful life together for 28 years.
Sadly, their love story ended in 2020 when Preston died of breast cancer. Travolta was devastated by the loss and shared some words of wisdom with fans, advising:
“The most important thing you can do to help another when they are in mourning is allow them to live it and not complicate it with yours.”
He said he felt he was held down by everyone else’s sadness about his wife’s passing and thought it was essential to go somewhere where you could quietly mourn when you were grieving.
Now, Travolta focuses on improving his children’s lives and being there as much as possible as they navigate a world without their mother. He is a devoted father.
What Is Travolta’s Life Like Now?
This year, Travolta celebrated Father’s Day with his children two years after his wife passed away. He took to Facebook to share a photo of himself sitting with his daughter and son on a couch as their dog sat on his lap. He then wished all the “dedicated fathers” a Happy Father’s Day.
![](https://viralhatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/AFT-245.png)
Many fans flooded the comments with love and support for him, telling him what a wonderful father he is and how great it is to see him with his children.
Travolta and Preston built a beautiful family but experienced a significant loss when their son died on a family holiday in the Bahamas. However, Travolta does not allow the sadness he has felt in his life to detract from being a wonderful father to his two children now.