LOS ANGELES — John Travolta says that he struggles daily to get by since the death of 16-year-old son Jett but that family, religion and intensive therapy have helped the family cope.
In his first interview since Jett's death in January, Travolta says he, his wife, Kelly Preston, and daughter, Ella Bleu, are far from healed. But almost daily religious counseling sessions have helped them move forward.
"We've been working very hard every day as a family to heal" since Jett, who was autistic, died after a seizure at the family home on Grand Bahama island Jan. 2. "We have our own way of doing it, and it has been helping."
Travolta says he has been overwhelmed by the support of friends, fans and Hollywood colleagues. "You need your friends a lot in times like that," he says.
The family has been in relative seclusion, but Travolta says he broke his silence in part to focus on his 9-year-old daughter, who is making her feature-film debut in the Nov. 25 comedy Old Dogs, which also stars Travolta and Preston.
"We decided it was OK to come out and promote, to introduce her to the world and to give her a beautiful future in film," Travolta says during a round-table interview with the cast of the film.
Preston says the "outpouring of love from, really, worldwide has been extraordinary. It's been our friends, our family, our church. We partake in spiritual counseling pretty much daily."
Still, she says, the family works to level the roller-coaster emotions.
"It's a tricky thing," she says. "Sometimes, something that's right for the moment is not right the next day. Being with people who are important to you, being with people that you love, I think that's what has primarily helped us the most. Sometimes, being alone, too."
The Travoltas are far from finished reliving the tragedy. The family is entangled in an extortion case involving a former Bahamian senator and a paramedic who are accused of trying to shake down $25 million from Travolta with information about Jett's death. Travolta and Preston gave no comment on the case, which ended in a mistrial last month. A retrial has been ordered.
Denzel Washington, a friend of Travolta's who co-starred with him in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 this summer, says Hollywood is as ready as the public is for Travolta's return to movies. When Washington heard of Jett's death, he was unable to reach the family.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry, that a lot of people have been thinking about them," he says. "Above everything else, John is a family man."
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