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John Travolta’s Relationship History, From ‘Taxi’ Star Marilu Henner to Beloved Late Wife Kelly Preston
John Travolta has experienced a great amount of love and loss throughout his life. On July 12, 2020, he said goodbye to his beloved wife, Kelly Preston, who died at age 57 two years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The actor has been a devoted dad to daughter Ella and son Benjamin since they lost their mother, but a source previously told In Touch that the Grease star has been “lonely” after Kelly’s death.
“Everyone wants him to be happy and fall in love again,” the source said, noting that it’s been hard for John to move on given his past experiences with heartbreak.
In Touch takes a look back at the actor’s love life, including his 29-year marriage.
John Travolta Was in a Serious Relationship With Diana Hyland
John began dating the late actress after working together on the 1976 film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble; he was 23 at the time, and she was 41. “I have never been more in love with anyone in my life,” he told People in June 1977. “I thought I was in love before, but I wasn’t. From the moment I met her, I was attracted. We were like two maniacs talking all the time on the set of Bubble. After a month it became romantic.” Before they met, “I thought I would never have a successful relationship,” John revealed. “She told me that she too had thought the same thing. Then, bam.”
Diana was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1975 and underwent a double mastectomy. The cancer continued to spread, and she died on March 27, 1977, with John by her side. “If she was alive, it is very possible I would have married her,” John once said.
John Travolta Once Dated Brooke Shields, Thanks to Her Mom
Though John and the Pretty Baby star were never anything serious, the two did briefly date — when he was reportedly 27 and Brooke was 16.
In Brooke’s memoir, There Was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and Me, the actress revealed that her mother, Teri, played a part in setting up many of her high-profile romances. “Basically my ‘relationships’ had always been orchestrated by my mother in one way or another,” she wrote. “She directed my romantic life sometimes subtly and sometimes not. She didn’t focus on romance (never mind love), but instead wanted to associate me with names that connoted fame, money, and power. These were relationships she supported, also because they were less attainable. She loved that I had briefly dated John Travolta, Jimmy McNichol, Leif Garrett, Scott Baio, and John Kennedy. They were all on Teen Beat magazines and stars in their own right. She trusted I’d keep my vow of chastity and like the attention paid to me in these couplings.”
John Travolta Dated Marilu Henner After Meeting in the Musical ‘Grease’
The Taxi star did the national tour of Grease alongside John, who played Doody in the stage show before eventually starring as Danny Zuko in the 1978 film. In 2022, she told People that she and John were the “two youngest” in the cast around ages 18 and 19 when they were on tour. “We were great friends, and we were friends for a long time,” she said of her on-off boyfriend.
Things, however, eventually fizzled out between the two, and their relationship came to an end. “He’s just a great guy. I adore him,” Marilu previously told KTLA. “Our families were very similar, and we connected right away because we both have three sisters and two brothers. His mother taught drama, my mother taught dance. His father sold tires, my father sold cars. So, we had a lot of commonality.”
John Travolta Was Married to Kelly Preston for 29 Years
John and Kelly, who met in 1987 while working on the 1989 comedy film The Experts, were married up until the day she died on July 12, 2020, after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
When they met, however, Kelly was married to actor Kevin Gage. After they divorced in 1987, she went on to briefly date George Clooney and was engaged to Charlie Sheen. Sparks flew when she and John got together, and the couple was engaged on New Year’s Eve in 1990 and tied the knot the following year. In 1992, they welcomed their eldest child, Jett, who died in 2009. Their daughter, Ella, was born in 2000, and son Ben was born in 2010.
After Kelly’s death, the Hairspray star posted a loving tribute to his wife on Instagram. “It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,” he wrote at the time. “She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many. 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, as well as her many friends and loved ones who have been by her side. Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered. I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while. But please know that I will feel your outpouring of love in the weeks and months ahead as we heal.”
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