14 DAY TRIAL // John Travolta and Kelly Preston have been married for 22 years but a new book claims that their union is nothing but a front for his real orientation. Back in the ‘80s, for instance, Travolta wanted out of Scientology so he could run off and marry his male lover.
Marrying Kelly has not changed anything about his love of men – he just hides it better from the eyes of the world now, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright says in “Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright.”
One of the chapters of the book also takes a good, hard look at Travolta and how he doesn’t dare to come out as gay because he feels he has his hands tied by the cult, the National Enquirer reports (story via CB).
In the ‘80s, when he was the hottest man in showbiz, Travolta had grown “disenchanted” with Scientology, the book claims. He was thinking of getting out but was literally terrified that the Church would out him as gay if he left.
“While the author states that the church was terrified their top member would be exposed as gay — long considered to be an ‘illness’ by Scientologists — Wright believes they were prepared to destroy the actor’s rising career by outing him if he tried to defect,” the National Enquirer writes.
“Frustrated over being trapped, in one emotionally charged auditing session, Travolta threatened to walk away from the church and ‘marry’ his male lover even though gay marriage was not legal at the time, former Scientology official Jesse Prince told Wright,” the report further notes.
Eventually, Travolta was “persuaded” not to leave the cult: Scientology had too much damaging information on him, all of which it was willing to use to sink his career if he left.
In 1991, the actor tied the knot with fellow Scientologist Kelly Preston, but the marriage was never more than just a front, the tab says.