After Kelly Preston died, her husband John Travolta had an earnest talk about life and death with their youngest child.
On the latest episode of Kevin Hart's Peacock talk show Hart to Heart, the 67-year-old actor told the comedian host that son Benjamin "Ben" Hunter Kaleo Travolta, 10, told him he feared he would lose him too after his mom passed away. The Jerry Maguire actress died in July 2020 at age 57 after battling breast cancer.
"He said to me once, he said, 'Because Mom passed away, I'm afraid you're going to,'" John told Kevin during the interview, which began streaming Thursday, Aug. 19. "And I said, 'Well, it's a very different thing.' And then I went through the differences about my longevity and her limited life."
The actor said he told his son, "But you know, Ben, you always love the truth and I'm going to tell you the truth about life. Nobody knows when they're going to go or when they're going to stay...Your brother left at 16. Too young. Your mother left at 57 and that was too young. But who's to say?'"
Kelly gave birth to Ben a year and a half after her and Kelly's eldest child, son Jett Travolta, died in 2009 while on vacation with their family in the Bahamas. Police had said the boy died after hitting his head on a bathtub and a seizure was deemed the official cause of his death.
Jett was survived by his parents and his and Ben's older sister Ella Bleu Travolta, who is now 21 years old.
John told Kevin that he said to his son during their chat, "I could die tomorrow. You could. Anybody can."
He also gave Ben some advice, telling him, "So let's look at life that, it's part of life, you see? You don't know exactly. You just do your best at trying to live the longest you can."
(E! and Peacock are part of the NBCUniversal family.)