Goddess: Celebrity Moms and DadsKelly Preston: Scientology Helped Me Get Through Son’s Death
Nothing can ever help someone get over the death of a child, but for Kelly Preston, her religion definitely eased the pain. In an interview with Amanda de Cadenet for Lifetime's "The Conversation" on Sunday night, the actress, who is married to John Travolta, opened up about how Scientology got her through the January 2009 death of her 16-year-old son Jett, who hit his head during a violent seizure while the family was vacationing in the Bahamas. "In Scientology, we have what's called 'auditing,' and that helps you to address things in your life and to strip them away," explained the 49-year-old. "It's a path of spiritual enlightenment. Also, it helps rid the mind of painful experience completely. Through that, the people at my church literally held my hand and got me through ... I will forever be indebted. You never forget, but I feel like the weight of the world was lifted."
In addition to her church — which boasts Tom Cruise, Lisa Marie Presley, and Kirstie Alley amongst its famous members — Preston adds that people all over the entire world offered up their condolences and support, and although they were strangers, it also helped to bring her out of the darkness of her grief. "People were so beautiful — so, so extraordinary from all over the world. Everybody grieves in their own way. I felt at times like I was drowning. It felt like a sea of wet blankets. And then I just peeled them off, layer by layer, so that I can now say, 'I want to live. I love life. My life is beautiful and amazing.' … Nobody should have to lose a child. It's unfathomable. But I'm here to say that you can get through it. You can live again. You can want to live again."
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Preston also had to live her life for the other child she had at the time, a now-12-year-old daughter named Ella Bleu. Then in November 2010, the "Jerry Maguire" actress miraculously gave birth to her and Travolta's third child, son Benjamin. "There's nothing like the love of a child," gushed Preston, who also revealed that she gave up drinking and smoking to become a better mother. "It's the greatest thing ever." She even admitted that she would be open to having a fourth, but at her advanced age, she acknowledges "it might be pushing it."
[Related: Kelly Preston Shares Love of Breastfeeding]
"The Conversation" took place months ago, before Preston's husband of 20 years was accused of sexual battery by four different men who gave him massages. Two of the men filed $2 million lawsuits against the "Grease" star, although one of the plaintiff's stories has since been called into question since Travolta was not in Los Angeles at the time he said the assault occurred. The second man is preparing to battle Travolta in court, according to his attorney. "It looks like [Travolta's attorney Marty Singer] wants one hell of a fight," said the man's lawyer, Okorie Okorocha, "and that is what he'll get from me."
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