John Travolta took to his social media to pay a tender yet heartbreaking tribute to his son Jett, who tragically passed away in 2009.
John, 71, welcomed his oldest child Jett in 1992 with his wife Kelly Preston, who herself passed away in 2020 at the age of 57 following a two-year battle with breast cancer.
Jett was born years before the couple welcomed their second child, a daughter named Ella Bleu in 2000. In 2009, at the age of 16, he sadly passed away following a seizure during a family vacation to the Bahamas.
Jett reportedly had Kawasaki Disease since the age of two, and John confirmed later that his son was on the autism spectrum and regularly had seizures. A year later, in 2010, they welcomed their second son, Benjamin.
On what would’ve been his 33rd birthday, John honored his son with an unearthed captured moment of him being held up as a toddler by his dad. “Happy birthday Jett – I miss you so much! Love you forever!”
Fans reacted with comments like: “Hurts my heart. He was so beautiful. Your strength is incredible. Sending huge love John,” and: “Happy birthday to a beautiful angel in heaven,” as well as: “He was such a precious child. He was your spitting image too.”
© InstagramThe Face/Off star shares tributes to his son as well as his late wife Kelly every year, for their birthdays plus Mother’s Day for the latter. Ella will often share tributes to her mom as well.
During a previous appearance on Kevin Hart’s talk show Hart to Heart, John shared how he discusses the idea of death and loss with his youngest Benjamin, spurred on especially by the loss of his mother when he was just a preteen.
© Instagram“He said to me once, ‘Because mom passed away, I’m afraid you’re going to,'” the star recalled. “I said, ‘Well, it’s a very different thing.’ And I went through the differences about my longevity and her limited life.”
John remembered then telling his son: “You know, Ben, you always love the truth, and I’m gonna tell you the truth about life. Nobody knows when they’re gonna go or when they’re gonna stay… your brother left at 16 – too young – your mother left at 57 – that was too young. But who’s to say?”
© Getty Images“I could die tomorrow. You could. I mean, anybody can. So let’s look at life … it’s part of life, you see? You don’t know exactly. You just do your best at trying to live the longest you can.”
In a 2015 interview with Entertainment Tonight, John shared: “We had a very full life, my son and I, 16 years. And we did travel the world and he saw every place by the time he, you know, he was that age.”
© Getty Images“But you know, you plan on a life that’s a lot longer for your child and you always intend to go first. So, that’s the difference is that, regardless of the full life we did live together, you know, you wanted a full life for him.”
