Tragedy

Travolta Tried to Revive Jett

Son's rumored autism not recognized by father’s Scientology.

John Travolta fought to save his son Jett’s life with cardiac resuscitation after the 16-year-old was found unconscious in a bathroom at the family's holiday home in the Bahamas. Jett, who some believe suffered from autism, sustained fatal head injuries when he fell and struck his head on the bathtub, toilet seat, or both, family lawyers told TMZ. The pain Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, felt was "unimaginable and unquantifiable," said Travolta’s close friend, lawyer Michael McDermott. Although Jett was believed to be autistic, the condition is not recognized by Scientology, the sect Travolta and Preston follow. Scientology views mental illness as psychosomatic, rejects psychiatry and drug treatments for mental illness, and says it should be treated through spiritual healing. The couple has denied their son was autistic. Jett's body will be embalmed Monday after a post mortem and flown back Tuesday for burial in Ocala, Fla., where the family lives. McDermott said a hotel manager was first on the scene and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation before Travolta arrived and took over for a "substantial period of time [and] was performing CPR" when the emergency services arrived.