Travolta 'heartbroken' at son's death

Hollywood star John Travolta today told of his heartbreak at his 16-year-old son’s tragic death.

In his first public statement since his son Jett died at their Bahamas holiday home, Travolta thanked people for their support and said he and his wife Kelly Preston were “heartbroken that our time with him was so brief”.

The couple said Jett was the “most wonderful son that two parents could ever ask for and lit up the lives of everyone he encountered.

“We will cherish the time we had with him for the rest of our lives,” they said.

Police Superintendent Basil Rahming said a caretaker found Jett unconscious in a bathroom late on Friday morning before he was pronounced dead at a Freeport hospital.

The youth was last seen entering the bathroom on Thursday, according to Rahming’s police statement.

But Michael McDermott a lawyer for Travolta, said he did not believe that Jett was in the bathroom for a substantial amount of time.

“The police left the impression that the boy was unsupervised. No. There were two nannies with him for the entire evening,” McDermott said.

“They made it seem like he was sent to the condo and nobody checked in on him until the next morning.”

“(Jett) was spectacularly supervised,” said McDermott.

McDermott said he had no knowledge of Jett’s medical history but “understood he had a history of seizures”.

The Bahamas’ health minister, Dr Hubert Minnis, has said that a second, US-certified pathologist will fly in tomorrow to assist with a post mortem examination.

“I have spoken to (Travolta) and informed him that the government is doing everything it can,” Minnis said today.

About a dozen security guards and Bahamian police officers patrolled around the luxury Old Bahama Bay resort community where Travolta and his wife remained inside their home.

The couple also have an eight-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu.

Travolta, 54, is trying to finish funeral arrangements and hopes to fly his son’s body to Florida by midweek, McDermott said.

Preston, 46, and Travolta have said that Jett became very sick when he was two years old and was diagnosed with Kawasaki Syndrome, an illness that leads to inflamed blood vessels in young children. Preston blamed household cleaners and fertilisers, and said that a detoxification program based on teachings from the Church of Scientology helped improve his health, according to People magazine.

The Church of Scientology, established in 1945 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, has attracted numerous celebrity followers, and among its more famed members is Travolta, who has long been one of Hollywood’s biggest names.