Actress Kelly Preston, who played dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire to Arnold Schwarzenegger in Twins, died Sunday, husband John Travolta said. She was 57.
Travolta said in an Instagram post that his wife of 28 years died after a two-year battle with breast cancer.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,” Travolta said. “She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many.”
The couple had three children together.
Preston had a lengthy acting career in movies and television, starring opposite Kevin Costner in the 1999 film For the Love of the Game. In 2003, she starred in What a Girl Wants and as the mom in the live-action adaptation of The Cat in the Hat. The following year she appeared in the music video for Maroon 5′s She Will Be Loved.
Preston and Travolta were married at a midnight ceremony in Paris in 1991 while the couple was expecting their first son, Jett.
In January 2009, Jett Travolta, 16, died after a seizure at the family’s vacation home in the Bahamas. The death touched off a court case after an ambulance driver and his attorney was accused of trying to extort $25 million from the actors in exchange for not releasing sensitive information about their son’s death.
Travolta testified during a criminal trial that ended in a mistrial and was prepared to testify a second time but decided to stop pursuing the case and it was dismissed. He cited the severe strain the proceedings and his son’s death had caused the family.
Both Preston and Travolta returned to acting, with Preston’s first role back in the Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Last Song, which starred Miley Cyrus and her future husband, Liam Hemsworth.
They had two other children, daughter Ella Bleu in 2000 and son Benjamin in 2010. Ella wrote on Instagram Sunday: “I have never met anyone as courageous, strong, beautiful, and loving as you. Anyone who is lucky enough to have known you or to have ever been in your presence will agree that you have a glow and a light that never ceases to shine and that makes anyone around you feel instantly happy.”
Travolta and Preston met while filming 1988′s The Experts.
They last starred together in the 2018 film Gotti, with Travolta playing John Gotti and Preston playing the crime boss’s wife, Victoria.
“Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered,” Travolta said on Instagram. “I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while. But please know that I will feel your outpouring of love in the weeks and months ahead as we heal.”