In a last-ditch bid to avoid a second divorce, KELLY PRESTON has clipped the wings of her high-flying pilot hubby JOHN TRAVOLTA!
The jet-setting “Pulp Fiction” star – who pushed their marriage to the breaking point by regularly zipping off without Kelly and their two children – agreed to Kelly’s demand that he give up his solo globetrotting, insiders say.
“Kelly told John that unless he dropped his habit of taking off at a moment’s notice, they’d end up in divorce court,” a family friend told The ENQUIRER.
Her first marriage to actor Kevin Gageended in divorce in 1987 after just two years, and the friend said Kelly “swore she’d never go through that agony again.”
Kelly, 49, has bent over backward to keep John happy during their 20-year marriage, but with their miracle baby Ben now a rambunctious year-old toddler, she wants the “Grease” star to be a stay-at-home dad to him and their 11-year-old daughter Ella Bleu, added the source.
“John was completely shaken by Kelly’s ultimatum,” the friend revealed. “He broke down and told her, ‘I always thought we’d be married forever. I can’t imagine a life without you and the kids.’ ”
That’s a dramatic shift from John’s behavior after the couple’s son Jett died tragically at age 16 during a family holiday in January 2009.
The “Hairspray” star marked Jett’s 17th birthday in April 2009 by flying to Tahiti alone, and he also made solo trips to Miami and San Juan, sources say.
Two months after that, John embarked on a five-day cruise of Mexico and Central America with a group of buddies, the sources add.
“At that point, John had decided he was going to file for divorce,” an insider told The ENQUIRER.
“He even told a pal, ‘I can’t go on like this. Kelly and I have become strangers. All she does is cry. I think it’s time we both start over.’”
The two grew close again withintense counseling, but just before Christmas, the 57-year-old actor broke down and jetted off to Bosnia, reportedly to do research for his upcoming film “Killing Season.”
That’s when Kelly confronted him, said the first source, and since then the “Saturday Night Fever” star has changed his ways.
During a party for Qantas airlines at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in mid- January, he bragged that he plays tennis with Kelly every day. And he’s also handed over many of his duties as a Qantas spokesperson to Aussie beauty Miranda Kerr, the model wife of actor Orlando Bloom, said the source.
“That decision alone speaks volumes,” the source explained. “Qantas consumed a tremendous amount of time that John now intends to dedicate to Kelly and the kids.
“John swears to Kelly he’s turned over a new leaf. He wants to be there for her, Ella and baby Ben. And Kelly intends to make him keep his word!”
