John Travolta Honors Kelly Preston On First Mother's Day Without Her

Updated September 7, 2021

As another Mother's Day passes, people the world over have come together to celebrate the gifts their mothers have given them and to show them that all of their hard work and love has been appreciated and returned.

However, the unfortunate reality is that not everybody entered this year with the hope that they would be able to tell their mothers this. For those, the day is more about keeping a heartfelt vigil over a mother's memory and coming forward with a tribute to express how she touched their lives.

And that is how John Travolta paid tribute to his late wife Kelly Preston on the first mother's Day since her passing.

On the evening of May 9, Travolta took to Instagram and posted this throwback photo to honor Preston.

According to E!, this photo featured their son Ben after he was newly born, as well as their daughter Ella.

He presented this photo alongside the caption, "Dearest Kelly, you brought into my life three of the most wonderful children I have ever known. Thank you. We love and miss you. Happy Mother’s Day."

The photo was part of a set that also included a shot of the couple while Preston cradles Travolta's son Jett.

With it, fans were given a solemn reminder that tragedy has struck this family multiple times in recent years as they suddenly lost Jett in 2009 after he experienced a seizure at the age of 16.

According to People, Preston would succumb to breast cancer 11 years later at the age of 57.

When this occurred, Travolta broke the news on Instagram, saying "She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many."

In this post, he mentioned feeling an outpouring of love and support from his friends and fans.

However, in an interview with Esquire Spain, Travolta said said that sharing in his grief with others didn't provide the actor with as much solace as he had hoped.

This has led him to come around to the perspective that the best way to help someone in mourning is to "allow them to live it and not complicate it with yours."

Because looking back on his own experiences in the time since Preston's passing, he said, "I felt so saturated with everyone's sadness that I didn't know what to do."

h/t: E!