To say Kelly Preston has had a tough few years is an understatement.
The actress, 49, and her husband John Travolta, 58, lost their son Jett in January 2009 while vacationing in The Bahamas; the 16-year-old’s death was attributed to a seizure. During an interview on Lifetime’s The Conversation With Amanda de Cadenet Thursday, Preston opened up about the tragedy that forever changed their family.
“I’ve had enormous loss. Nobody should have to lose a child. It’s unfathomable,” The Experts actress said. “But I’m here to say that you can get through it. You can live again. You can want to live again.”
Preston credited her family, friends and faith for giving her the courage to move forward.
“People were so beautiful — so, so extraordinary from all over the world,” she said. “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.”
Preston continued: “In Scientology, we have what’s called ‘auditing,’ and that helps you to address things in your life and to strip them away and work through them. 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.”
“There are still things that come up, for sure, but I am able to live. And to want to live,” Preston said. “I can laugh. I’m — for the most part — happy. That’s the greatest gift ever.”
On November 23, 2010, Preston and Travolta — married since 1991 — welcomed their third child, son Benjamin Hunter Kaleo. (Daughter Ella Bleu was born April 3, 2000.)
“Having another child after this experience — we had to think about it, especially this late in life,” Preston said. “I always wanted to have more kids. I feel like I would even have another child, but it might be pushing it.”
“I’m not afraid to love and to love deeply. My kids help me with that. They open up your heart so much,” Preston said. “There’s nothing like the love of a child . . . it’s the greatest thing ever.”
The Conversation With Amanda de Cadenet airs Thursdays at 11 p.m. EST on Lifetime.
