Should it matter if Jett Travolta had autism?
Since the tragic death of John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s 16-year-old son Jett at their home in the Bahamas on January 2nd, rumors have swirled about what was actually wrong with Jett. These rumors include repeated reports that Jett was autistic. Is it any of our business? Does it matter?
The Travoltas have spoken publicly about Jett’s illness with Kawasaki Syndrome when he was a small child. It’s also my understanding that they have publicly discussed that he had a history of seizures.
None of those things explains why a 16-year-old was being supervised by two nannies in the family’s home when he died. None of these things explains the statements made by a family friend, actress Anne Archer, to People.com, where she describes Jett as being observedly significantly mentally handicapped.
So what does explain those things? Widespread rumor has it that Jett was probably autistic. If this was the case, I believe the Travoltas did a disservice to the cause of people like their son by hiding his condition. If they had discussed nothing about his health to preserve his privacy, that would be different. But by selectively revealing some things and hiding others – including it appears that he had autism or another developmental disability – they sent the message that those things were embarrassing and should be hidden. Whether this lack of disclosure was due to the family’s belief in Scientology doesn’t really matter. The results were still the same.
I’m horribly sad for the Travoltas about the loss of their precious son. But I’m also sad for them that they apparently felt the need to hide the truth about him while he was alive. If they had chosen to share, I’m sure they could have served as an inspiration to many people, and found support from other families like theirs – support like they’ve said they are very appreciative to be receiving now. I’m sorry they missed out on that. Because no matter how famous you are, being a special needs parent is challenging, and we all need the support of our community to get through this.
See I think, with all the media attention surrounding autism, I understand why they’d hide it. And another mental handicap as well, because again, people would do just what they are doing now, assume it’s autism. because autism is popular.
Maybe they didn’t want the public feeling sorry for their son, or patronizing him, as the public would do, regardless of their advocacy. They’d be harangued for not being like Jenny, and his privacy would be further diminished. I can see discussing some thing that no one has heard about, to satisfy the public that he wasn’t entirely typical, and then hiding the rest. If he was still alive, we wouldn’t be doing this. And if they released now that he had X syndrome, we’d be accusing them of trying to get attention…