Jett Travolta’s life was from an early age plagued with difficulties. At the age of just two, he was rushed to hospital with what appeared to be flu-like symptoms. In fact, it was the far more serious, Kawasaki disease, which is an auto-immune condition affecting inflammation in the arteries. It is severe but treatable.
While it is not contagious, it was likely to have been related to Jett’s many other health issues, with which he suffered his entire life. It was not until Montel Williams interviewed Kelly Preston in 2003 that she revealed what had happened during this tough ordeal.
Total Blackout
As an experienced pilot and aviation enthusiast John Travolta has been able to experience some amazing things. This isn’t to say he hasn’t had to deal with an emergency from time to time. This particular emergency took place on a late November evening back in 1992. It was a cloudy night, and Travolta was piloting his Gulfstream N728T. As he was making his way along with one of the busiest airwaves he suffered a complete engine failure.
Travolta had to think quickly and luckily noticed the Washington DC airport between a break in the clouds. He was able to guide the plane, along with his co-pilot to an emergency landing, where luckily no one was harmed.
A Near Miss
As part of the full engine failure, the plane's radio system also had a total blackout. Air traffic control became very nervous as to the whereabouts of Travolta’s plane and suspended activity until they knew its location and where it might be landing. In an attempt to try and be helpful, it was decided to have another plane guide John and his co-pilot to the runway. To do this, they diverted a fully booked Boeing 727.
However, due to the fact that Travolta’s radios were also out, he had no idea this was the plan and so narrowly avoided a mid-air collision. Luckily all was fine, both planes landed safely, and no one was hurt.
Couldn’t Make the Grade
John Travolta was not an academic child when he was at school, he was too focused on perfecting his acting skills. Indeed, this was mirrored in some of the roles he played where he was one of the “cool kids” but not necessarily top of his class, roles such as "Grease" and "Welcome Back Kotter."
It didn’t take long for Travolta to realize that the performing arts were his calling and he became less and less interested in his studies, which was something his teachers were concerned about. Regarding his relationship with his teachers, Travolta would just try and charm them and was once quoted as saying he “tried to communicate with them on a more adult level.”
Dropping Out Of High School
It is said that life imitates art, and for John Travolta, art imitated life. Such was the case that because he was so focused on his acting career, he decided to drop out of high school-aged sixteen to pursue his dreams. Landing the role of Danny Zuko, a charming and popular high school kid, who was not focused on his studies was, to an extent, art imitating life for Travolta.
What it didn’t reflect was that for Travolta, he participated in football and basketball with his friends, but they never really understood his devotion to acting and why Travolta would head to the acting studios at night to work on his craft. Perhaps now that he is one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood, they understand.