Kelly Preston, a wife, mother and actress who appeared in more than 70 television series and films, including Jerry Maguire, Casino Jack and Twins, died Sunday after battling breast cancer, her husband John Travolta said. She was 57.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer. She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many,” Travolta captioned a photo of a beaming Preston on Instagram. “My family and I will forever be grateful to her doctors and nurses at MD Anderson Cancer Center, all the medical centers that have helped, as well as her many friends and loved ones who have been by her side. Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered. I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while. But please know that I will feel your outpouring of love in the weeks and months ahead as we heal.”
In a statement to People magazine, a family rep said Preston chose to keep her cancer battle private.
Born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith in Honolulu on Oct. 13, 1962, Kelly lived in Iraq and Australia as a child. She attended high school in Hawaii, worked as a model and studied acting at the University of Southern California.
After launching an acting career, she adopted the stage name of Kelly Preston. Her first major film roles came in 1985, with the comedies Mischief and Secret Admirer.
Some of her other notable credits included SpaceCamp (1986), For Love of the Game (1999), and What a Girl Wants (2003), as well as the television series Fat Actress, Medium, and CSI: Cyber, according to her IMDb page. Her most recent film role was opposite her husband in the 2018 biographical drama Gotti.
Preston first met Travolta while filming the 1989 movie, The Experts.
They married in 1991, and had three children together, son Jett, who passed away at age 16 in 2009, daughter Ella, 20, and son Benjamin, 9.
Read Travolta’s tribute to Kelly Preston below.
