Actress Kelly Preston dies of breast cancer at 57

[July 13, 2020]  (Reuters) - American actress Kelly Preston who has appeared in films including "Jerry Maguire" and "Twins", has died aged 57 after battling breast cancer for nearly two years, her husband, John Travolta, announced in an Instagram post late on Sunday.

"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," the 66-year-old "Grease" actor said in his post.

"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", Travolta wrote.

Born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith in Honolulu on Oct. 13, 1962, she changed her name to Kelly Preston before securing her first film role in the 1985 romcom "Mischief," then appeared in another teen comedy, "Secret Admirer".

In the next few years Preston starred in films such as "SpaceCamp" and then "Twins" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.

In "Jerry Maguire", she played Tom Cruise's fiancee Avery Bishop, then co-starred opposite Kevin Costner in "For Love of the Game".

Preston last starred in the 2018 film "Gotti" in which she played Victoria Gotti, the wife of Mafia boss John Gotti, who was portrayed on screen by Travolta.

Travolta, star of the hit dance movies "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease", met Preston in 1988 when they appeared together in a film called "The Experts". They married on Sept. 5, 1991, in Paris.

Preston is survived by her husband and their children - daughter Ella, 20, and 9-year-old son Benjamin. Their son Jett died at age 16 in January 2009 during a family vacation in the Bahamas.

"I have never met anyone as courageous, strong, beautiful and loving as you," her daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, wrote in a tribute posted on Instagram.

(Reporting by Rebekah Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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