Travolta Returns to Stand, Says Alleged Extortionists Aimed to Imply His Son's Death Was "Intentional"

Week after first appearing at trial, actor resumes testimony; says Bahamas duo threatened him with allegations of negligence in Jett's death

A week after he first took the stand in the extortion trial against himself and wife Kelly Preston, John Travolta was once again testifying in the Bahamas this morning.

This time around, rather than his testimony focusing on the emotional morning he discovered his 16-year-old son Jett was unconscious, Travolta spoke about how he came to realize former senator Pleasant Bridgewater and ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne were allegedly trying to extort $25 million from his mourning family.

The actor said that it was one of his employees who first informed him of the threat and that he immediately consulted with his lawyer, Michael McDermott.

Travolta, who said he was never directly approached by Bridgewater or Lightbourne, said that the duo threatened to release information claiming he was at fault for his son's death if he didn't hand over the payment, saying they threatened to "imply that the death of my son was intentional and I was culpable in some way."

Yesterday, another of Travolta's attorneys, Allyson Maynard-Gibson, took the stand, claiming Bridgewater approached in the days after Jett's death with copies of documents—ambulance dispatch reports and the now infamous refusal to transport form—which could be used to imply negligence on Travolta's behalf.

Maynard-Gibson said the defendant duo expected the star to pay for the documents as "he would not want his name tarnished in media."

Specifically, she said the papers—which, Lightbourne told her, "could belong to Travolta or it could belong to the world"—would be used against him to show negligence as he initially wanted his son flown to a Florida hospital rather than be taken to a local facility. She said the driver had been in contact with "a lady from the U.S. media who said it might be beneficial to him if he could show that Travolta was negligent."

During his testimony last week, Travolta confirmed that he signed a document releasing the ambulance company from liability in his son's care but that, given the circumstances, he didn't exactly go over it with a fine tooth comb.

"I received a liability of release document," he said. "I signed it. I did not read it. Time was of the essence."