On July 13, John Travolta took to Instagram to share the heartbreaking news that his wife Kelly Preston passed away from breast cancer at the age of 57. Preston and Travolta were married for 29 years and shared three children together: Jett, who passed away in 2009, Ella Bleu and Benjamin.
In Travolta's post about Preston's tragic passing, he ardently thanked the medical team that cared for his wife over the past two years. "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," Travolta wrote. This public acknowledgement of Preston's medical treatment has led some former members of the Church of Scientology to believe Travolta is backing away from the religion following his wife's passing.
Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard was "really opposed to chemotherapy and radiation," one former member told the Daily Mail. Jeffrey Augustine, another former member of the church and open critic of the organization's practices, claims Travolta's statement "shows they've backed away from Scientology."
Augustine cited one of Hubbard's lectures from 1959 in which he claimed cancer was caused by "a second-dynamic or sexual upset, such as the loss of children or some other mechanism" as one of the reasons Travolta may be doubting his devotion to Scientology at the moment. "In the Church, they'd say you lost Jett, so that's why you got cancer, so we need to audit that out," Augustine explained. "[But] they did it with medicine. This was handled professionally and elegantly, I really admire the way he did it, he made Scientology a non-part of Kelly's death."
"It'll hurt to lose your wife of 30 years. There will be grief, it's human. There's no acknowledgement in that statement of Scientology, David Miscavige, or auditing, there's nothing - that's critical, he took care of it in his own hands, this is a personal matter, like ''I don't need the Church,'" Augustine continued.
Sam Domingo, the daughter-in-law of opera star Placido Domingo and one of the Church of Scientology's VIP members for 22 years, told the Daily Mail that this could be a "make or break" moment for Travolta. "He'll pay a lot of money to get spiritual counseling to talk to Kelly, or he'll maybe come to the realization that Scientology isn't making him happy anymore nor saved his wife," she said.
Domingo also noted that the church doesn't believing in grieving after the loss of a loved one. In his announcement about Preston's death, however, Travolta informed his followers the he "will be taking some time to be there for my children" and said he'd be able to feel the "outpouring of love in the weeks and months ahead as we heal."
Photo: Getty