For an article for The Daily Beast published Friday, Dana Kennedy spoke with several high-ranking members of Hollywood’s most high-profile cult about its most high-profile couple: John Travolta and Kelly Preston.
Kennedy details the Travoltas’ “week-long publicity blitz” at Cannes to promote Travolta’s new film, “Gotti,” which provides what some reviewers found to be a surprisingly sympathetic view of infamous crime boss John Gotti, with whom Kennedy obliquely compares Travolta.
Describing the couple as “the most powerful and loyal Scientologists in the world,” Kennedy underscores that they’ve “managed to dodge, or ‘handle,’ in Scientology parlance, years of accusations from male masseurs and his former co-pilot, among others, of sexual assault and harassment against Travolta.” The most recent allegation to surface against Travolta, Kennedy notes, is a “sexual battery” claim by a male masseur in 2000. But with the help of his “fearsome LA lawyer” Marty Singer, Travolta has proved over the years to be “Teflon John.”
For the piece, Kennedy spoke with some ex-Scientology members, including the group’s former top spokesman and “enforcer,” Mike Rinder, and former top executive Karen de la Carriere, who was one of the last people to be personally trained by the founder of the star-studded cult, L. Ron Hubbard. The former members described Preston as a “hard-core” devotee of the church, more dedicated in fact than Travolta, and someone who manages to “anchor” him to the organization despite his “dark side.”
[[{“fid”:”33752″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”Kelly Preston and John Travolta attend the screening of ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 15, 2018 in Cannes, France.”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Photo by George Pimentel/WireImage”},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“1”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:”Kelly Preston and John Travolta attend the screening of ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 15, 2018 in Cannes, France.”,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:”Photo by George Pimentel/WireImage”}},”attributes”:{“alt”:”Kelly Preston and John Travolta attend the screening of ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 15, 2018 in Cannes, France.”,”title”:”Photo by George Pimentel/WireImage”,”class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”1″}}]]
“Kelly is a much more dedicated Scientologist than John,” Rinder, who knew and liked both of them, told The Daily Beast. “Scientology dictates every choice in life and informs every decision a Scientologist makes.”
“I cannot say if he is gay or not,” Rinder said of the allegations of Travolta’s alleged sexual affairs with men. “I’m not going to speculate. All I know is it would be a catastrophe if he or anyone else in Scientology came out as gay. You can’t. The church is anti-gay even if they don’t publicize it.”
De la Carriere described Travolta as “a bad boy who likes risky sexual adventures.” Preston, she suggested, is either “deluded” or “more likely just deaf” to the allegations of his behavior. Part of the reason she leans toward the latter, she explained, is the church’s “intense indoctrination” program.
“The church has a very intense indoctrination to prepare you for anything you might hear,” she said. “It’s like a pre-emptive strike in case something uncomfortable comes up. Kelly’s been trained to not believe what she hears in the media. She’s been trained to think that these are evil people making things up.”
De la Carriere’s husband Jeffrey Augustine, also a former Scientologist, described Kelly as “a true believer” who keeps him anchored to the church despite his “dark side.”
“John loves aviation more than Hollywood but because of Kelly he’d never leave Scientology,” he said. “He loves his family. He’s just got a dark side and he’s reckless. But he really has no reason to want to leave the church. People at his level never see the ugly side of the church. Plus he’s got OSA [Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs] as his own private Mafia if he gets into trouble.”
Related: Former Scientologist Suing Organization Over Forced Abortions