What Caused The Death Of John Travolta's Son?

An autopsy is being performed on the body of John Travolta's late son Jett today, and it could provide answers to what caused the 16-year-old's death. Last Friday, Jett was found in the bathtub of a home in the Bahamas where the Travolta family was vacationing. According to the Associated Press, Jett died after having a seizure and hitting his head on the bathtub.

There has been an outpouring of condolences for John and his family. People are saddened over Jett's death and the loss that the Travolta family has suffered. But there are also questions being raised. Among them: If Jett did have a seizure, what caused it? John and his wife Kelly Preston have long contended that Jett suffered from Kawasaki Syndrome, which caused him to have seizures.

John's brother Joey Travolta, for one, believes that Jett suffered from autism, which has been associated with seizures as well as epilepsy.

In fact, Joey tells the London Mirror that he and his brother have had several arguments about what was wrong with Jett over the years and that John refused to believe that his son had autism because his religion, Scientology, does not recognize the disorder.

Incidentally, Joey made a documentary about autism called Normal People Scare Me for which he interviewed dozens of autistic children. That said, Joey is not a doctor.

While there have been reports that John and his wife refused to give their son medication because of their beliefs as Scientologists, TMZ.com reported early this morning that Jett had indeed been taking a strong anti-seizure medication called Depakote for several years, according to Michael Ossi and Michael McDermott, the Travolta's lawyers. Over time, the drug lost its effectiveness, they contend, and there were concerns that Jett could be suffering physical damage from the medication, so after consulting with neurosurgeons, Jett was taken off the drug.

What do you think of all of this?

Despite what the Travolta family's lawyers have to say, do you believe it is possible that Jett didn't get a proper diagnosis and the medical treatment required because of his parents' belief in Scientology? Do you think there should there be an investigation into how his parents handled their son's medical care? And, ultimately, is any of this for us to judge?

Comments

[Lesley]

Nonsense. We now know Jett was taking a drug called Depakote, a strong anti-seizure medication. There have been reports Travolta refused to give his son anti-seizure meds because of Scientology but those stories are not true.

http://www.tmz.com/2009/01/05/john-travoltas-son-meds-ultimately-did-harm/

[ricky]

However this is a sad and heart breaken story my heart goes out to them. the truth of the matter is, its non of our business. this is a family matter, let them grief with out all of us sticking our noses in places that dont need to be!!!!!!!!!

[brandon]

i feel for the family. but honestly this is a family matter. it is none of our business to be going around telling all the details and even naming the medicine he was on. Talking shit about Paris and going around finding out what the hell is wrong with her is one thing, but family members that pass away...thats none of our business.

[Ben]

I think that Jett was probably not getting the medical treatment that he needed. However, this is somewhat of a freak accident as people with seizure disorders have seizures all the time and do not die from them. It is pretty unfortunate what happened.

[buttmunch2]

The Family has just Lost a Dead Son, Instead of Supports, Condolence, & feels Sympathies for they Lost Loves One,Why So Ignorant about Quickly Judging, Besides is No Body Fucking Business, Everybody Should Mind Their Own Damn Fucking Stupid Business, Get a Life Stupid Nosy Damn Fuck, Get a Real Life You All Stupid Arrogant Bunch of Nosy Heartless Animals Shits ...

[David]

I used to take depakote for my epilepsy. It is a strong drug, and it does work for a while, but your body does get used to it after a while. I have to switch my meds every year or so to keep from getting used to them. I usually have a couple seizures during the time when I change meds. As many of you who take daily meds know, strange and unexpected things sometimes happen when we start a new routine.
My sympathy goes out to the family. May he find peace in whatever awaits us beyond this life.

[Rick NYC]

Why do you continue to put up these celebrity stories that simply reinforce the impression that gay people are superficial? Aside from being an unwarranted invasion of privacy as has already been noted, this is the sort of low-class, anti-intellectual crap that runs in the Daily News in New York. People will start treating you like grownups if you behave like grownups, so leave this celebrity crap to the pulp press, OK?

[mark]

scientology doesn't put much trust in medicine. i wonder how well travolta's son's health problems were managed? anti-convulsant medications should never be a hit and miss type of compliance issue. if the son was still having seizures, he probably was not being well managed. and i sure hope his depakote wasn't stopped abruptly.

[Dr. Evan Peter Evans]

Congratulations to gay.com for the excellent article above on the death of actor-scientologist John Travolta's son.
The circumstances leading up to the sons death may never be known, but as a physician for over 40 years I can state that only the most reckless, negligent parents would allow a child like Travolta's son to NOT take several medications, based on public reports of the son's multiple medical disorders.
Furthermore, many years ago I treated one of l. ron hubbard's two buddies who sat at hubbards kitchen table and outlined plans to see if they could start a new "religion." I was told by this man that the project was a sci-fi experiment!

Dr. Peter

[Adam]

While this is a sad and tragic event, what does this have to do with gay.com? This is a story that can be read on numerous other news websites.

This story has gone from the death of his son to a discussion of Scientology.

[DeWitt Gravink]

Death by cult.

[Mike (coralcocowexler)]

"That said, Joey is not a doctor." Why does this article in places read more like a tenth-grade essay than a piece of journalism? I feel horrible for Jett's death but we need to focus on that aspect and not the fact of who his father was or whatever disputes his father and uncle may have had over his illness.

[Jeff]

I think this is tragedy that nobody, regardless of their well meaning wishes, can fully understand unless it happened to them. In addition, the family has a right to their religious beliefs; that is also nobody's business. Leave them alone. They are in pain and their time for healing needs to be respected. Not spread gossip all over the internet and tabloids. Its disgusting the way people treat tragedies such as this one!

[John in Miami]

Many of you comment it's "they're business." but did any of you realize that their son Jett was underage? and far underage when diagnosed properly or perhaps not? His advocates in this case his parents... can lead us to question ... like it or not... that some children/families need outside intervention. No disputing the tragedy but... what "if" there was more attention to the child and not religion/beliefs? Jett was too young to advocate for himself.

[queerplanet]

Hunreds of people in Gaza were murdered by the global war machine too.

Who cares what this washed up, closet case actor thinks about anything?

His son died.

So did the sons of a lot of other innocent people so that Mr. Travolta can have cheap jet fuel.

[DeWitt Gravink]

Isn't it convenient that some of the craziest people on earth (Scientologists) don't believe in mental illness?

[Mike]

Is everything bad that happens a tragedy? Yeesh.

After the drugged-up death of mediocre actor Heath Ledger, methinks it's time to give that word a well-deserved rest.

[cultawareness]

Someone needs to get to the truth here and we cleary do not have all the answers. In reading Tom Cruise by Andrew Morton you are able to understand what Scientology is all about and the role doctors and drugs play with this people. Clue - none!

[Jim]

Why do you dawg out Gay.com so much; you act like they are the only media outlet report the news and that is what it is NEWS. It has nothing to do with gays being superficial but curiosity to why a young man passed so suddenly that raises questions.

Yes, the Travolta's need privacy and that is what they are getting , but then again they are high profile actors and they are in the public eye and that goes with the territory.

Leave gay.com alone geeez....

[David]

You wonder why so many people are not full members of gay.com just look at this subject, nothing to do with us and a sorrow for those concerned, and this article leaves undertones of suspicion

[gary]

I just don't know if the media is making a big deal or if the Travolta/Prestons are into Scientology.

I mean who would want to kill their kid if they knew they wanted/needed help.

[madrew75]

As an individual who takes Depakote and is being treated for seizures, I am very well aware that the possibility to have a seizure still does exist - even with the medication. This is not a time for a conspiracy theory of bad or neglectful parents. Let us instead pray in our own way for the Travolta's in this time of great tragedy. As a former member of the Ocala, FL community where they live - I have seen the compassion of the Travolta's first hand when 4 students from local high schools were killed on his airstrip last Jan. Let us now show them the same respect they gave our community when we lost those young lives last year.

[JIm]

I don't pay for gay.com because there is no reason to pay for a service for the most part you can get free. I don't care about how many rooms I can enter or how many pix I can see of a shallow guy.

If I could actually meet someone in here that was normal, it would actually be worth paying for.

All I was saying is that public figures like the Travolta's will put a spotlight on circumstance such as these. If it was joe blow that died of a sudden seizure, it probably wouldn't make headline news.

[Judge]

Let the police investigate what happened to their son. If he was taken off his medication abrubtly and not given any thing else then the family is resposible. They knew he needed medication from past experience. It's a terrible thing to lose a child, but you have to put the blame somewhere. His brother knew what was going on. They are entitled to their own religion, but when you endanger a child, they must be held accountable. Even if they are stars, they aren't above the law. I'm sure hindsite is 20/20. They aren't the first people to lose a child because of neglect. But I'm sure they take no responsibility for their actions.

[Joe]

Scientology as a rule tends to kill and or break people. All they care about is making money off of the desperate to fit in and immensely gullible. Travolta was both when he entered into the cult so I say fuck the lot of them and slam him with a prison sentence. Fuck Scientology.

[Jeremy]

I doubt very much Jett was actaully on any medication. He likely had a seizure, and John and Kelly performed whatever crazy ritual the Church of Scientology told them they should. When you worship Satan you get what you deserve. I feel sorry for the boy and his sister, but not he family. Being a Scientologist is worse than being anti-gay, or a Mormon.

[ShawnsterBear]

I disagree with a lot of the readers of this story. A lot of people like to say "It's none of your business!" but the incident actually breaking news made it a public affair. When you are famous (right or wrong), you have very little privacy and everyone is going to be in your business. It's a price they have to pay just being a celebrity.

Just because a news article is written about it does not mean that the writers are not sympathetic with the issue.

This case has turned to a child neglect issue if in fact the articles I've read is true, and John & his wife's religious beliefs kept his son from getting the medicine and treatment he needed for seizures. Also to, not even acknowledging the fact that your child has autism because of religious beliefs may hold the parents at fault (at least a little) for his death.

[ryan]

Did Travolta hire his unqualified gay lover to care for an ill child, who then died on the faux nanny's watch? If so, you won't read about it in the trashiest of Internet tabloids.

John Travolta's 16-year-old son, Jett, was found by family nanny Jeff Kathrein — but it didn't run a famous picture of Travolta kissing Kathrein.

In 2006, Kathrein and Travolta were caught by paparazzi locking lips. The Travolta camp's official explanation: Why, John kisses everyone like that! But in the wake of a teenager's death, no one stopped to ask who the man who found him dead is, and what his relationship was to the kid's father.

Kathrein is one of the Travolta family's two nannies. On his website, he describes himself as a photographer; he mostly lenses weddings. His qualifications for childcare are unclear, other than being a Scientologist like Jett's parents, John Travolta and Kelly Preston. Kathrein's wife, Ana, is also a Scientologist. (Some Scientology critics believe the church forces gays and lesbians to stay in the closet and pursue heterosexual relationships, frequently citing Travolta and Preston's marriage.)

Why the deference from TMZ, which is usually the standards-bearer of standards-lowering? Much remains mysterious about Jett Travolta's tragic death — and impolite questions ought to be asked. Isn't that what celebrity tabloids are good for?

Take the family's unchallenged assertion that he suffered from Kawasaki disease, an immunological syndrome which causes painful inflammation, after exposure to carpet-cleaning chemicals, and that he died after hitting his head after suffering a related seizure. At least one doctor disputes the notion, saying that there's no link between chemical exposure and Kawasaki disease and that it does not cause seizures.

Jett may have suffered instead from autism which went untreated, because of Travolta's adherence to the cultlike religion of Scientology and the bizarre beliefs about mental illness that go with it. And if Travolta hired Kathrein for reasons other than the best interests of his child? That only makes it worse.

[full deck]

He died from Jett lag...or how's this: He died from parental neglect because his dad was too busy flying a Jett!

[sirald66]

What is the gay angle in this story?

Besides Travolta converted from homosexuality to Scientology and is their poster boy for doing so?

Or is it simply gossip = gay.com ?

[andy]

that's ridiculous if Joey feels that Autism has something to do with jeff's death. this is only a syndrome of a mental condition characterized by great difficulty in communicating with others and in using language and abstract concepts.

but if there is another reason for such an using i dont know may be some drugs which not included in prescription by a doctor could be more precise fact.

but anyway, i feel so sorry for this incident.

[Tom]

I used to work with a guy who died at 23... one day he was healthy and working, the next day we heard he'd had an epileptic seizure in bed and drowed in his own vomit... and he was faithfully taking medication. Epilepsy has no magic cure or sure treatment. I don't think Scientology demands that its members not to use medicine(they certainly don't insist on nothing but faith healing, like Christian Science does). Anyway, I think a healthy amount of caution and personal discretion is necessary with regard both to medical treatment and religiuos practice. Treating a condition like epilepsy is a medical tight-rope act, requiring a lot of balance and a lot of luck. And one of the side-effects of anti-convulsives like Depakote *is* seizures! "Shakiness, nausea, drowsiness, and headaches are among the most common side effects reported with Depakote. Side effects that are less frequent but potentially serious can include unexplained bruising or bleeding, depression, and worsening of seizures."

[rick l]

as soon as i saw the picture of travolta's son i thought mildly retarded and autistic. as an autistic but not retarded i can usually spot a fellow autistic when i see one. quite frankly he looked like a head banger which is probably the real reason for his seizures. since i learned he was on depakote it explained the puddginess, weight gain is a side effect of depakote which is also used for bi polar. he was off the depakote because it stopped working. he should have been weaned off the drug and put on something new.

[Kidd Kasper]

Just because someone may have a documented medical condition, that does not automatically mean that they should be on medication for it. Doctors and medicine have their place and time. But, as his parents, it was up to them to determine the best course of action in dealing with any medical condition that Jett may have it.

I had a good friend in high school start to warm up to go for a jog one day. His parents found him in their front yard after he suffered an aneurysm in his brain. He didn't live. Regardless of anyone's opinion of Scientology or anything else, losing a child is a very sad thing. I, for one, mourn for them.

[Disgusted]

I think it's disgusting that people publish articles like this which pertain to personal family tragedy and invite others to gossip.

I also think it's disgusting that people post nothing but gossip and make assumptions and even pass judgment in instances like this.

Fuck all of you gossiping shitheads!

[Todd]

Something doent smell right here...let s be honest, Travolta is an odd bird. Suppression of one s sexuality can lead one to do crazy things. Gay men in Hollywood join Scientology and get married and pay millions to have the cult cover it up for them.
I feel so for the poor boy who died...but there must be a full investigation for his sake...even more so because it s another celebrity drug-related death that occured in the Bahamas.

[Steve]

I certainly have misgivings about Sceintology, however when such a young person dies for any reason it is a tragedy. I do beleive people should have some respect for the family, who have suffered a terrible loss, and cease speculations about what they might or might not have done right or wrong.

[corrective_unconscious]

So let me get this straight, does Jett now undergo an autopsy or an audit? Maybe he was actually jumping up and down on a couch like a crazy man and fell on his head.

And it goes without saying that John Travolta won't be needing, or rather, taking any anti-depressants....

I heard them proffer the neat and tidy carpet cleaning chemical explanation on TV - as though one household incident can explain such an array of symptoms over a decade, most of which have far simpler likely explanations - and I thought: Denial is what makes any cult work so efficiently!

Thank goodness he's not openly gay, whatever he is.

[queerplanet]

A Hollywood celebrity has a death in the family and it's news.

Why?

Meanwhile Gay.com sponsors a bareback chat room where gay men engage in sex that causes death.

Meanwhile gay.com ignores the real news about how our civil rights have been destroyed, and will continue to be destroyed.

Just pay attention to the celebrties and everything will be okay.

[corrective_unconscious]

I would suggest that the madness of celebrities and the cult mentality of large segments of the murican sheeple (including various so called religions, etc.,) are part of a seamless continuum leading to self destruction - be it by bug chasing, drug abuse, invasions based on lies, destruction of the environment, obscene concentrations of wealth.

It's all about thinking styles and the absolute primacy of bullshitting. For example, claiming some carpet cleaners led to a decade of very serious health effects on an individual strains credulity. It was not a mustard gas attack, and if you believe such an explanation as "carpet cleaners" then I have some WMDs for you to find.

[Uma Carrot]

I think most of you are missing the point , I agree that this is a tragic family matter, but if the boy died because of his parents religious beliefs it is our duty to shine a bright light on this kind of ignorance so it is less likely to happen again. Knowledge is power.