John Travolta's 16- Year-Old Son Dies
NGUYEN: Oscar nominated actor John Travolta and his family, they are trying to cope with such a devastating loss today. Their 16-year- old son, Jett, died from an apparent seizure during a family vacation in the Bahamas.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a tragedy. It's their oldest boy. Very sad.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel badly for him.</s>NGUYEN: Oh, so sad. Ken Baker with E! Entertainment's L.A. bureau joins us now live with more on this story. All right, Ken, you know, help us understand exactly, how did this happen?</s>KEN BAKER, E! ENTERTAINMENT: Well, we don't have all the details, and an autopsy is going to be performed Monday, we believe. But what we do know is this, is that John Travolta, his wife, Kelly Preston, and their two kids, including Jett Travolta, who was 16-year- old, flew to the Bahamas on Tuesday for a family vacation. They were just going to spend the New Year's holiday there with some family and friends. And on Thursday was the last time the family had seen Jett. He said he was going to use the restroom at the Bay Resort Hotel in Grand Bahama Island, and they didn't see him until the next morning, Friday morning, at about 10:00 a.m., when a caretaker found Jett unconscious in the bathroom of his hotel room. And...</s>NGUYEN: OK. Wait a second, Ken. So he was going to the restroom Thursday evening. No one saw him again until Friday morning?</s>BAKER: Yes, that's one of the mysterious elements that's emerged from this story, is that they said that they saw him on Thursday at some point, presumably later in the day. But then no one had seen him until Friday morning. And that's when they called the police. The ambulance came, rushed him to the hospital. And we're told that he was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.</s>NGUYEN: Did Jett have any kind of condition? Because we have heard so many things from Kawasaki Syndrome, which leads to heart disease, to possibly autism. Do you know? Did he have a prior condition?</s>BAKER: Well, the autism rumor has been around for a long time. There was a lot of speculation in the media that Jett had been suffering from autism and that his parents didn't acknowledge it because they are Scientologists, and allegedly scientologists don't believe in autism and certainly don't treat it with medication. But I have to emphasize, there is no proof that he had autism, and certainly there's no proof that the autism was related to this seizure that he apparently had yesterday. But what is clear is that he did have a disease called Kawasaki Syndrome. And he was diagnosed with that when he was 2 years old. Now, this is a disease that attacks the immune system. And, in fact, Kelly Preston, his mom, went out in public and said that she thought that some carpet cleaner, some toxic substances that she had used to clean her own carpet, caused the syndrome which creates rashes and fevers and can lead to a heart condition. But experts that I have spoken to in the last 24 hours say there is rarely a connection between seizures and Kawasaki Syndrome. So, as of right now, no one is sure why he fell, why he bumped his head in the bathtub. And we're just going to have to find out over the next week or so for the autopsy to be completed.</s>NGUYEN: Yes. And I'm looking at some information right here that says Kawasaki Syndrome is rare in children after the age of 8 years old. So what we understand, though, what we know at this point, is that he did have a seizure, according to reports coming out of the Bahamas. What does Scientology say about seizures and being treated for that?</s>BAKER: Well, from what I understand of Scientologists is that they don't like to treat diseases with medication, particularly psychiatric illnesses or neurological disorders. So it's unclear whether or not he had been treated. We don't know the details of his treatment. What we do know is that John Travolta loved this boy so much. I have been told that John would fly around the world. John is an experienced pilot, he flies very big aircraft. And I'm told that Jett would be in the cockpit with him often. The last time we saw them together was in November in Paris. And you can see the video there. And Jett, a lot of people, hadn't seen him in so long. It was so rare that we see Jett, that people remarked back in November, wow, he has gotten big. He is a big boy. And John and Kelly both kept him out of the public eye, and he had a very private life and a very normal childhood, by a lot of accounts. And I think that was very deliberate.</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>BAKER: They didn't want him to grow up in the public eye. They also have an 8-year-old daughter, Ella. And we also haven't seen much of her either.</s>NGUYEN: Well, I was going to say, looking from this video brought to us, I mean, they are holding hands with their family, obviously very protective and very loving. And we understand from a statement that says, obviously, "This is the worst day of John's life, to lose his only son, Jett." Ken Baker with E! Entertainment. Thanks so much for your time and your insight today. We do appreciate it.</s>BAKER: Thanks, Betty.</s>MARCIANO: A new year, 2009. New Year's resolutions, for sure. Making them could very well be the easy part. Keeping them, well, that's where it gets a little bit tricky. So for those of you with weighty resolutions, we've got some tips that maybe you can stick to. We'll be right back.