John Travolta lost his first love Diana Hyland to breast cancer a decade before he met wife Kelly Preston
John Travolta had lost his first love, Diana Hyland, to breast cancer back in 1977, a decade before he met his wife Kelly Preston who died from the same disease over the weekend on Sunday, July 12.
Travolta and Hyland met when they were on the sets of the movie 'The Boy in the Plastic Bubble' where Hyland played the role of Travolta's mother. The film released in 1976, just a year before Hyland died in Travolta's arms, Daily Mail reported. At the time, Travolta was 23 years old while Hyland was 41. The 'Pulp Fiction' actor deeply loved Hyland and had planned to buy a house with her and marry her, but fate had other plans.
Three months after her death, Travolta told People, "I have never been more in love with anyone in my life. I thought I was in love before, but I wasn’t. From the moment I met her I was attracted. We were like two maniacs talking all the time on the set of Bubble. After a month it became romantic." He added, "I had more fun with Diana than I ever had in my life. And the odd thing is just before we met I thought I would never have a successful relationship. She told me that she too had thought the same thing. Then, bam."
Hyland had a mastectomy around two years before she met Travolta and was confident that her cancer would not come back. She got her second diagnosis when Travolta was filming 'Fever' in New York. He rushed back to be with her and Hyland died two weeks after she had received her diagnosis. Travolta was overcome with grief for a long time after the death of Hyland.
He went on to film 'Grease' but had been so affected by Hyland's death that he struggled to remember the lines. He was romantically linked to Catherine Deneuve and Marilou Henner for a bit after Hyland's passing.
Travolta met Kelly Preston in 1987 and married her by 1991. The two met on the sets of 'The Experts' when Preston had was still married to actor Kevin Gage. Travolta said their meeting was "love at first sight". "Well, I was not that happily married, let’s put it that way. I was really with the wrong person," Preston had previously shared. She got a divorce from Gage in 1987 but did not start dating Travolta immediately. She moved in with George Clooney and had a two-year romance with him. She even dated Charlie Sheen before dating Travolta.
We had earlier reported that the former model and actress, Preston, died at the age of 57 after a two-year-long battle with cancer. Travolta took to his Instagram handle to share, "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. She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many. My family and I will forever be grateful to her doctors and nurses at MD Anderson Cancer Center, all the medical centers that have helped, as well as her many friends and loved ones who have been by her side."
"Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered. 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."