Over the years, multiple men have come forward accusing movie star John Travolta of unwanted sexual advances and assault. Travolta—who has been married to actress Kelly Preston for 27 years— is also rumored to be gay.
“We don’t really care that John Travolta is gay,” the late actress Carrie Fisher told Out magazine in 2009.
A new Daily Beast piece suggests that Travolta is shielded from the fallout of the rumors and accusations, in part because he and his wife are top-level Scientologists. The accusations have been "handled," the Beast reports.
At the same time, his rumored sexual orientation would be deeply problematic in the church, according to a former member.
"I cannot say if he is gay or not,” Mike Rinder, the former top spokesman for the Church of Scientology, told the Beast. “I’m not going to speculate. All I know is it would be a catastrophe if he or anyone else in Scientology came out as gay. You can’t. The church is anti-gay even if they don’t publicize it.”
Other former friends of the couple say Travolta leads a double life. Karen de la Carriere, a former top Scientology executive, told the magazine that Travolta is "a bad boy who likes risky sexual adventures” and that his wife is blinded to his sexual activities by Scientology doctrine.
“The church has a very intense indoctrination to prepare you for anything you might hear,” De la Carriere said. “It’s like a pre-emptive strike in case something uncomfortable comes up. Kelly’s been trained to not believe what she hears in the media. She’s been trained to think that these are evil people making things up.”
“He loves his family. He’s just got a dark side and he’s reckless," another former Scientologist observed. "But he really has no reason to want to leave the church. People at his level never see the ugly side of the church. Plus he’s got OSA [Scientology’s Office of Special Affairs] as his own private Mafia if he gets into trouble.”
