#John Travolta’s first love died of breast cancer 43 years before Kelly Preston

“#John Travolta’s first love died of breast cancer 43 years before Kelly Preston”

July 13, 2020 | 3:42pm | Updated July 13, 2020 | 4:03pm

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John Travolta and Diana Hyland on the red carpet in 1976; Preston and Travolta in 2018.
WireImage; Getty Images

Kelly Preston’s death from breast cancer Sunday was a tragic end to her 29-year marriage to John Travolta, which bore three children: Ella Bleu, Benjamin and the late Jett, who died in 2009 of a seizure.

Preston’s passing at 57 is, sadly, not the first time 66-year-old Travolta has lost a significant other to breast cancer.

In 1977, actress Diana Hyland, who the actor had been seriously dating for a year, died of the very same cause. At 41, she was 18 years older than 23-year-old Travolta, and somewhat scandalously played his mother in the TV movie “The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.”

As soon as the cameras rolled, Travolta was smitten.

“I thought I was in love before, but I wasn’t,” Travolta told People magazine in 1977. “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.”

Hyland never had the career her young superstar boyfriend would go on to enjoy. Already the star of TV’s “Welcome Back, Kotter,” Travolta would make “Saturday Night Fever” in 1977 and the iconic movie-musical “Grease” in 1978 — a stretch of extreme success he’d never again repeat.

At the time of her death, Hyland was mostly known for TV roles such as “Peyton Place” and “Eight is Enough.” She also had one significant Broadway part, playing Heavenly in Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth” opposite Paul Newman. Still, she was a well-regarded actress that many believe would’ve done great things.

Hyland was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977, and despite undergoing a mastectomy, her prognosis got worse. Dedicated til the end, Travolta was with Hyland when she died, telling People he “felt the breath go out of her.”

The actor never thought of his early romance as a fling.

“I picked out a house, and Diana and I were planning on moving in right after this movie,” he told People. “If she was alive, it is very possible I would have married her.”

Preston and Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1988’s “Twins”

©Universal/Courtesy Everett Col

MISCHIEF, Kelly Preston, 1985, TM and Copyright (c)20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved.

Preston in 1985’s “Mischief”

JERRY MAGUIRE, Kelly Preston, 1996, (c)TriStar Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

Preston in 1996’s “Jerry Maguire”

TriStar Pictures/Everett Collection

J.Travolta And Kelly Preston At Deauville Film Festival In Deauville, France On September 08, 1991.

Preston and Travolta, 1991

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FOR LOVE OF THE GAME, from left: Kelly Preston, Kevin Costner, 1999, © Universal/courtesy Everett Co

Preston and Kevin Costner in 1999’s “For Love of the Game”

©Universal/Courtesy Everett Col

Travolta and Preston, 1989

©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Col

John Travolta and wife Kelly Preston at the opening of the Church of Scientology Museum in Los Angeles

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THE CAT IN THE HAT, Kelly Preston, Alec Baldwin, 2003, ©Universal/courtesy Everett Collection

Preston and Alec Baldwin in 2003’s “The Cat in the Hat”

John Travolta, Kelly Preston, and Son Jett

Preston got a visit from husband John Travolta (L) and son Jett while on location filming the 1997 motion picture “Addicted to Love”

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Travolta, Preston and their children Ella and Benjamin at a screening of the film “Solo : A Star Wars Story” at the 71st Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France

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