John Travolta honored his late son, Jett Travolta, on what would have been his 29th birthday. “Happy birthday my beautiful Jetty. I love you,” the actor wrote on Instagram on April 13. He accompanied the sweet message with a black and white photo of himself looking adoringly at his son, who passed away at the age of 16 in 2009. Jett has a huge grin on his face.
Jett died after suffering a seizure during a family trip to the Bahamas. The teenager, who suffered from Kawasaki disease and had a history of seizures, fell during the fatal episode and hit his head on a bathtub in his hotel room. The loss devastated the Travolta family. The Grease star said in a 2015 interview with ET, “You know, you plan on a life that’s a lot longer for your child and you always intend to go first. So, that’s the difference. Regardless of the full life we did live together, you know, you wanted a full life for him.”
Honoring Jett on social media on what would have been his birthday is a tradition for the family. For his 28th birthday, John posted a similar black and white shot of himself and his son, writing, “Happy Birthday Jetty! We love you!” with a red heart emoji. Kelly Preston, John’s late wife and Jett’s mother, wrote, “Happy Birthday to our sweetest Jetty, we love you!!” as the caption on a cute photo of herself hugging her young son.
Kelly passed away in July 2020 after a two-year battle with breast cancer, which she had chosen to keep private. The actress was just 57 years old. She shared two other children with John, her husband of 29 years: Ella, 21, and Ben, 10.