So today I see that John Travolta and his lovely wife Kelly Preston are in court for the extortion thingy that's going on down in The Bahamas. Something about a document pertaining to their son's medical condition that fell into the wrong hands...and those wrong hands wanted some money from Mr.Travolta or else they were gonna get money from like Star Magazine or The National Enquirer.
I was reading over on E! when this caught my eye
After a brief lunch break, Travolta returned to the stand and for the first time admitted that the long-time speculation was true about his son's condition.
"He was autistic," he said. "He suffered from a seizure disorder."
Interestingly enough (well for me, cause I am a Nosey Parker) the extortion case is about Mr. Travolta making a statement after Jett's death, that he, was in fact autistic.
Back when Jett died (far too young) there was a lot of internet chatter about whether or not he had autism...and if he did, why was it such a secret? Scientology, The Travolta's religion, doesn't acknowledge autism. Were they ashamed of the diagnosis? They are pretty high up in their church.
I have no idea. I speculate, that's what I'm good at. What I do know is I just can't imagine being so torn between my faith and my child, but then my faith is little to begin with and my life is measured by my autistic son, and it is beautiful. Crazy, but beautiful.
5 you say:
Scientology, The Travolta's religion, doesn't acknowledge autism
i think i'm going to start a church that doesn't acknowledge the sun. oh, that big yellow glowing fireball lighting our world? no, no, not really there - nope. why not? cause i said so.
it just makes no sense to me. i literally can't wrap my brain around the denial of autism's existence. sometimes, maybe just for a really quick minute here or there, in the privacy of my own head, it would be nice, though.
That whole situation is a hot mess.
If I were John Travolta, I'd be starting a religion that doesn't acknowledge the existence of
"Look Who's Talking Now
I have a family member who is a Scientologist and have some understanding of *why* they don't acknowledge autism though I don't agree with it. I cannot ever imagine being in a position of having to choose between my faith and my child, my faith and my good life. In JT's case, as I understand it, Scientology helped him a great deal in his younger years; I can imagine he must feel like his foundation is unstable.
Such a sad, sad situation. I hope thier family is able to survive this latest. The rumors are already swirling about problems in the marriage since Jett's death.
This topic is very interesting to me right now. We've recently had to tell the parent's of G's entire class about his autism to quell parental unrest. The idea that the Travolta's got to choose who to tell for as long as they did - no matter their motivation - makes me a little jealous. I'm in no way ashamed of my son and know we did the right thing for him, but I also feel we had to made a decision to disclose that should have been his, when he was old enough to understand and decide for himself.
I sort of feel the demands from the autism community to disclose Jett's information didn't take into account Jett's feelings on the matter. As parents, we're supposed to advocate for our children until they can advocate for themselves. Maybe that's what the Travolta's were doing, maybe Jett understood the issue and chose not to be a celebrity poster-boy. Maybe after seeing the media frenzy that surrounded his parents as actors, he chose not to get involved.
Or maybe it was the scientology thing. I'm just speculating. ;)
That is just sad for so many reasons.
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