As John Travolta continues to mourn the death of his beloved wife Kelly Preston, he’s also reaching a “make-or-break” moment with his nearly five-decade-long devotion to Scientology — at least according to those in the know.
The 66-year-old actor has been a practicing member of the controversial church for more than 45 years now, but most recently he’s been at odds with them over Kelly’s medical treatment.
See, the Church is opposed to cancer treatments, and broke from Travolta over his decision to take Preston to the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas before her death from breast cancer back on July 12.
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Now, former Scientology members are coming forward openly wondering — and even encouraging — the Grease alum to walk away from the institution.
On Thursday, DailyMail.com published an exclusive in which several of the actor’s peers spoke out about his decision to break from the Church and seek cancer treatments for Preston, and what that may mean for Travolta’s own future faith.
Open critics of the controversial faith, including ex-member Jeffrey Augustine, didn’t hold back in using Travolta’s public response to Preston’s death as proof the actor has moved on from his alignment with the religion. As you’ll recall, Travolta openly praised the MD Anderson Cancer Center in his statement on his wife’s passing for their hard work trying to fight back against Preston’s aggressive cancer.
It may seem a small thing to those who aren’t as familiar with Scientology’s strict rules, but to Augustine that public praise was VERY significant:
“The statement was unequivocal in the support of medical staff [at MD Anderson]… It shows [John has] backed away from Scientology. It’ll hurt to lose your wife of 30 years… there will be grief, it’s human. But there’s no acknowledgement in that statement of Scientology, David Miscavige, or auditing. There’s nothing. That’s critical, he took care of it in his own hands, this is a personal matter, like ”I don’t need the Church.'”
Wow!
At issue here are some of the very foundational theories holding the Church together. In a 1959 lecture on the subject, faith founder L. Ron Hubbard railed against chemotherapy and radiation while openly preferring his own method of “auditing” as the only favored cancer treatment allowed for those who practiced the faith.
Augustine explained more:
“Hubbard was really opposed to chemotherapy and radiation. But people realize it [auditing] doesn’t work when it comes to serious diseases. In the Church, they’d say you lost [Travolta’s late son] Jett, so that’s why you got cancer, so we need to audit that out. [But] Travolta did it with medicine. This was handled professionally and elegantly, I really admire the way he did it, he made Scientology a non-part of Kelly’s death.”
Inneresting.
Couple that with how Travolta’s public statement about his beloved wife’s death also included an apology “in advance, if you don’t hear from us for a while,” and optimistic former church members are hoping that means he’ll fully step away from the tightly-held Church.
Brendan Tighe, a former security guard for both Travolta and fellow Scientologist Tom Cruise, spoke more about the likely course of action now moving forward as the Saturday Night Fever alum further mourns his late spouse:
“It’s as tragic as it gets to me. I honestly don’t know what he will do. But I’d guess that he will go through the full gamut of emotion. They were definitely each other’s rock. I’d also guess that he will take some time off with his kids to travel the world and get some space. His Scientology handlers will of course try to be there at every step, but he may not want the ‘help’ right away.”
Hmmm…
Still other former members contend it was actually Kelly who more closely held faith in Scientology all along. Sam Domingo, the daughter-in-law of opera star Placido Domingo and one of the Church’s VIP members for more than 20 years before a falling out recalled how it was Preston who really went all-in on Scientology after Jett’s death from a fatal seizure back in 2009.
Domingo said (below):
“I saw Kelly going in for her daily brainwashing. She was staying at the hotel at Flag Base. Kelly was the driving force behind [John’s] involvement, in my honest opinion. She was like one of the Stepford Wives, always hanging out at Celebrity Centre International along with Jada [Pinkett-Smith] and Anne Archer. Kelly would say herself that Scientology helped her get over Jett’s death. They believe he was reincarnated. She was constantly getting audited, constantly under the thumb, and Travolta had handlers 24/7 to get him through. This will make or break him, and he’ll pay a lot of money to get spiritual counseling to talk to Kelly, or he’ll maybe come to the realization that Scientology isn’t making him happy anymore nor saved his wife.”
Wow!
Domingo went on from there, too, revealing how Scientology’s belief structure doesn’t allow time for grieving and mourning, as they contend humans are constantly reincarnating. To that end, the former member is optimistic Travolta will be led by his own grief away from the controversial teachings:
“You see young kids saying: ”We mustn’t be sad, it’s great that mom’s going to get a new body’.’ I saw with old friends of mine who were still in, their kids posting stuff, like ”we’re staying upturned, upbeat.’ [John] would be getting auditing to communicate with Kelly’s spirit right now to address anything they need to finish up. His auditing would mean that he can say a proper goodbye, so she can go off and get another body. Some believe where they know they’re going and whom their new parents are. But they don’t get a chance to ever properly grieve.”
Jeez. Sounds difficult, to say the least.
The Church has yet to publicly comment on Kelly’s passing, either, and even that absence of a statement over the death of a member in good standing has former practitioners scratching their heads.
Augustine summed it up, saying:
“Scientology is useless. They boarded up all their Orgs during the protests in Los Angeles, when the social unrest happened. They were more concerned about their Orgs than the protesters. It’s their utter inability to do anything lately and this just adds to that. I’ve never seen them this impotent. They don’t know what to do. They’ve not even issued a statement over Travolta. There [sic] response to everything is to be boarded up … Why have they gone deaf, dumb and blind? They retreated from the world.”
Wow!
That’s quite the takedown from those in the know, it would appear.
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[Image via Brian To/Ryan/WENN.]
