The seemingly never-ending speculation about John Travolta’s sexuality raged on this week when a man claiming to be the actor’s ex-lover filed a lawsuit for the right to out him in a new tell-all memoir.
Douglas Gotterba told the National Enquirer that he had an intimate “love affair” with the A-lister back in the mid ’80s. In 1987, he signed a confidentiality agreement saying he would never, ever, ever talk about their relationship. He’s now challenging that contract in a California court.
Travolta’s camp calls Gotterba’s allegations “ridiculous” and says that they are “confident that in the end we will prevail.” But this is not the first (or second, or third, or fourth, or fifteenth) time the actor has been rumored to have engaged in homosexual behavior.
We get it. When John Travolta was first coming up in Hollywood in the 1970s, it was a different era. There were no openly gay leading men. But times have changed. The industry has been actively embracing LGBT entertainers for the better part of a decade. It’s time for ol’ Johnny boy to join the club.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Mr. Travolta, if you’re reading, here are six reasons why it’s time to throw in the towel and just admit what everyone knows to be true.
He’d have guys lining up at the door to date him.
Sure, he may not be as sexy and fit as he was 35 years ago, but then again, who is? If he laid off the cosmetic surgery and ditched the hair plugs, he’d still be a very attractive older gentleman. As is, he’s not terrible-looking. We’re sure there are plenty of gay men out there who’d love an opportunity to date Danny Zuko. And besides, the fact that he’s loaded, talented, and, from what we can tell, a genuinely nice person more than makes up for his addiction to Botox.
He’d make serious bank.
Speaking of being loaded, we’d bet People magazine would pay an easy $10 to $20 million for his first official “coming out” interview. He could follow that up with a few paid TV sit-downs, a seven-figure book deal, and maybe even a speaking tour. Celebrity Net Worth ranks Travolta as being worth approximately $165 million. After an official coming out media tour, he could easily bring that number up to a solid $200 million.
He wouldn’t have to shove his butt in his masseurs’ faces anymore.
As an openly gay man, he would no longer have to rely on (allegedly) paying for secret erotic massages to get his rocks off. (Unless, of course, that’s his thing.) He also wouldn’t have to worry about his various male masseurs talking to the press, or having to pay them off when they threaten to sue for sexual harassment.
He’d be free of the chains and fetters of the Church of Scientology.
Many people have long speculated that the reason Travolta has remained in the closet all these decades is because of his close ties to the Church of Scientology, which has strict policies against homosexuality. If he were to come out, he could simultaneously rid himself of the cult that’s been holding him captive for nearly 40 years.
Kelly Preston, too, would be free.
John Travolta and Kelly Preston were married in 1991. Their marriage has widely been considered one of convenience, with people alleging that she is his beard and he was her ticket to Hollywood stardom. Is the marriage a sham? Nobody knows for certain. Except, of course, for the two parties involved. But we will say that a Hollywood marriage lasting 25 years certainly isn’t the norm. If Travolta were to finally come out, Preston would be freed from her gilded cage. After two and a half decades of marital imprisonment, she could date an actual heterosexual male, have sex, experience a real orgasm, and all that other great stuff that comes along with being a sexy, sexually reawakened, middle-aged woman.
The gay community would welcome him with open arms.
If John Travolta were to finally say the words: “Yep, I’m gay!” he would be immediately embraced by the gay community. As any right wingnut will tell you, we’re constantly recruiting. We love new members. And we’d love to have him as part of our fold.
Johnny boy, the party is waiting for you. Come join the fun. Give us a [email protected]!
hrnpip
Anyone ever consider the possibility that he’s bisexual? I hear it’s a real thing.
Chris-MI
The Church of Scientology has no anti-homosexual policy. Officially they are fine with people being gay. Unofficially, they have “cured” many gays, and it’s possible Travolta was one of them. Either way he has children with Kelly Preston and is obviously very dedicated to his wife and kids. It’s true there have been some high profile breaks with the Church lately, but I don’t see Travolta as being one of them. A lot of people speculated that he would do something after the death of his autistic son (Scientology’s policies about the mentally impaired are really, really vile) but he didn’t.
DawnTrans
@hrnpip: Im glad someone else was thinking along the same lines. But to many bi just means confused a stigma that has outlasted its lifetime.
For all we know Kelly Preston is enjoined with Johns lovers as well for hot 3 somes.
DarkZephyr
@Chris-MI: From Wikipedia (it sounds to me like they are “fine” with it like the Catholic Church is “fine” with it but are actually even more hostile to it than Catholicism is):
The sexual pervert (and by this term Dianetics, to be brief, includes any and all forms of deviation in Dynamic II [i.e. sexuality] such as homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual sadism, etc., and all down the catalog of Ellis and Krafft-Ebing) is actually quite ill physically…he is very far from culpable for his condition, but he is also far from normal and extremely dangerous to society…
Hubbard (1978). Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Church of Scientology of California. pp. 122–123
Hubbard further defined perversion in his 1951 book Science of Survival: Prediction of Human Behavior, where he introduced the concept of the “tone scale”, a means of classifying individuals and human behavior on a chart running from +40 (the most beneficial) to -40 (the least beneficial). Sexual perversion, a category in which he included homosexuality, was termed “covert hostility” and given a score of 1.1, “the level of the pervert, the hypocrite, the turncoat, …the subversive.” He considered such people to be “skulking coward[s] who yet contain enough perfidious energy to strike back, but not enough courage ever to give warning.” Hubbard (1975). Science of Survival. Church of Scientology of California. pp. 88–90
Homosexuals don’t practice love; 1.1s can’t. Their relationships consist of: 1) brief, sordid and impersonal meetings or 2) longer arrangements punctuated by dramatic tirades, discords, jealousies and frequent infidelity. It could hardly be otherwise since the tone is made up of suspicion and hate, producing a darling sweetness interspersed with petty peevishness. Their “love” turns to deep contempt eventually. by Scientologist Ruth Minshull, How To Choose Your People
Billy Budd
He is probably a bit insane and the church of scientology has collected evidence of this for almost 40 years. IMAGINE IF THEY RELEASE HIS “AUDITING” TAPES! If he leaves the church, they will probably retaliate. The same is valid for Tom Cruise.
They can’t come out and they will NEVER come out. They are scientologists.
Dxley
John Travolta, here’s ONE reason why should NOT come out: It’s NONE of anybody’s business: It’s your life and live it the way you want to. You don’t owe anybody anything and don’t ever feel compelled to come out because of these bullies in the gay community who are constantly crying tolerance but are never tolerant towards anyone whose take on life is difference from theirs.
If any of this is true, come out when you’re ready or just don’t come out at all — it’s your life. Until you and your wife decide on whatever, enjoy your marriage and children, and simply dismiss these people who are constantly on your back with gay rumors.
DarkZephyr
@Dxley: You are defending him because you are a coward just like he is. A big fat coward who intends to drag a woman down with him.
Dxley
Queerty, you should seriously give us the option of editing comments. My iPhone always messes up my words, like different*, for example from my comment above. Come on now!!
Stache99
@DarkZephyr: Oh please. That would require a willing women. The only way Dxley would drag a women down is with a rope.
Dxley
I just wish Stache99 would just get off of me because he/she/it is like a pesky mosquito. It’s honestly not funny anymore!
@Stache99: Sure, and that woman should be your mother!
Stache99
@Dxley:Ha. That’s real original.
I actually have no issue with you and I do pass on most of your comments.
JDJase
It would be interesting to see someone claim to have had sex with Travolta WITHOUT trying to make money off of it. But I digress.
Seriously though, who effing cares if he’s a raging homo
Cam
@hrnpip: Did you ever consider the possibility that a story could happen on Queerty without you saying the exact same thing?
@Chris-MI:
Yes, actually Scientology not only HAS a policy against gays “Remember the famous guy who left because he has a lesbian daughter was was told to cut off ties to her” But what scientology ALSO does is they find out the secrets of all their members and use them to blackmail people against leaving the church.
@Dxley:
If being gay is “Nobody’s Business” then is being straight nobody’s business? Should we outlaw engagement rings, bachlorette parties, weddings? Because you know all of those things tell people that somebody is straight, and according to you that is NOBODY’s BUSINESS.
The reason you think being gay is a shameful secret to be hidden is because as you have exposed on here multiple times, you are just another self hating closet case who will lie to and marry some poor unsuspecting woman while f-ing around on the side with a guy and probably bringing STD’s home to your wife. (I”m paraphrasing but that is basically what you have said.)
That is all.
jar
@Chris-MI: To Hubbard, gays and lesbians are likened to murderers, as the lowest form (tone scale 1) of people. One of the guiding principles of $cientology is that Hubbard’s word is gospel that must be followed to the letter. Celebrity scions try to play innocent when challenged about the cult’s views on homosexuality, but they are lying- which is endorsed by scientology. Lying is encouraged when dealing with “wogs” (the rest of us) to defend scientology.
cformusic
ehh y’all can keep travolta..i’d rather have ryan seacrest
callenstewart
Meh. At this point, I would think the reaction would be more like, “Really? So what?”
Pistolo
Listen, if he wants to go to bathhouses and run around in the shadows, if he doesn’t want to publicly ally himself with us then he is no asset to gay people anyways. The fact that he’s never felt compelled to say anything in the midst of homophobia just goes to show you he’s more concerned with his reputation. Do we really want someone who hates themselves to be forcibly outed so they reluctantly admit they’re gay? He’d only re-enforce the idea that it’s shameful and that being outed is a form of humiliation.
He kind of annoys me, quite frankly. I feel compassion for him but there’s a part of me that thinks he’s just taken to blissful ignorance with the hair, he scientology, the transparent closet. He’s a little pathetic.
Stache99
@Pistolo: I mostly agree. However, it’s more about sticking it to Scientology with me.
NoCagada
@Chris-MI: ” Either way he has children with Kelly Preston and is obviously very dedicated to his wife and kids.”
And you KNOW that how?
masc4masc
Why do you guys obsess over what this senior citizen does with his private life?
Live and let live, right?
What a guy does in his bedroom is no one else’s business, right?
People should be entitled to the freedom live as they want, RIGHT???
Stache99
@masc4masc:Which down low closet case are you referring too. Yourself or Travolta?
AJAnders
When you join the church of Scientology, you have to let them know ALL of your deepest and darkest secrets. From listing every single sex partner you’ve had in your lifetime to any possible crimes you may have committed to affairs to drug use to God knows what else. That way, they can use this info to tell the public, blackmail you, harass you, sue you and basically make your life a living hell should you choose to leave or speak negatively about the church in any way.
That’s the ironic thing here. It’s not just the gay thing. Travolta could have a slew of non-gay things in his past as well that he doesn’t want the public to know. It’s perfectly normal. He’s human. And part of being human is making mistakes and having skeletons in your closet no matter how good or bad of a person you are. The main problem is Scientology’s desperation to have your money and they will sink to the lowest of lows to keep it. It’s not just harassment or threatening law suits. They have a history of framing some of their former members for phoney crimes as well. They’re batshit crazy.
Sadly, I think Travolta sealed his fate the day he joined that horrible organization. And that’s going to keep him from ever coming out.
Cam
@masc4masc: said… “People should be entitled to the freedom live as they want, RIGHT???”
__________________
So then you must agree that the ex-boyfriend has the FREEDOM to write a book about himself without being prevented RIGHT???
michael mellor
Unless Travolta is having a relationship with a man while at the same time being married to Kelly, there is absolutely no moral obligation for him to come out. He owes the gay community nothing.
And let’s stop playing the victim card for Kelly. If Travolta is faithful to her, she is no victim. She may well accept the notion that he may have had same-sex relations in the past. More power to her.
What a lot of you guys resent is the ‘horrible’ notion that a man who might be attracted to men can also choose to commit himself to a woman. It torpedoes your theories.
Chris-MI
All:
You can see the official church policy on gays here:
http://www.scientologymyths.info/homosexuality/
Yes, Hubbard made homophobic remarks. Yes, they claimed to be able to cure gays, and probably are still doing it, at least in some congregations. It’s not the official policy. Critics often claim Scientologists consider Hubbard to be infallible, but I am not aware of any official doctrine on this.
@NoCagada:
There are videos out there of Travolta and Preston and the kids, and if he’s not dedicated to his family, he’s able to act much better than he does in his movies.
degaulle
There are still no openly gay leading men in Hollywood movies. Maybe on TV but movies are still pretty conservative.
jar
@Chris-MI: Eh, no. That is not official scien policy. That site is clearly a PR site of scientology, which has a policy that lying is perfectly acceptable to protect $cien. Look up their Fair Game policy. And Hubbard is called “source.” Every one of his writings is considered law in scien and cannot be deviated from. That is fact. There’s plenty of information on this cult on the internet.
DarkZephyr
@Stache99: Ha ha! My respect for you grows.
@masc4masc: “Live and let live” coming from you, who constantly has to belittle your less masculine gay brothers and call them “gender confused” and mis-gender them as “her”, that is RICH.
masc4masc
@Stache99: Travolta.
@Cam: Very disingenuous. The right to live your life without hurting anyone is a lot different from the “right” to intentionally set out to malign someone. Travolta’s not hurting anyone by living his life privately. Gotterba obviously means to cause trouble for Travolta. You see no difference? Very telling.
@DarkZephyr: I see sarcasm is lost on you (and Cam). I’m simply throwing out some of the usual requests the gay community feels entitled demand of everyone but the gay community. I already know it’s all bullshit.
DarkZephyr
@masc4masc: I don’t think its an issue of “sarcasm is lost on us” as it is an issue of you sucking at sarcasm. And by the way, you seem to intentionally set out to malign your non-masculine brothers with great frequency, so you calling Cam “disingenuous” is almost as rich as you preaching “live and let live”.
michael mellor
Unless John is actually cheating on his wife Kelly, I don’t see why he should have to say anything to the public. There is no moral obligation to say anything.
And if Kelly accepts that John might have had same-sex relations in the past, I don’t see how she’s a victim.
masc4masc
@DarkZephyr: I’m not surprised you see it that way. You definitely seem like the type that walks through life thinking the problem is everyone else. Typical. If you were the one that wasn’t bright enough to pick up on very obvious sarcasm from the user YOU decided you needed to reply to, then it’s your comprehension skills that “suck”. I haven’t attempted to malign the reputation of any Queerty user; how can I when I thankfully don’t even know any of you personally? And please, no character assessments from the likes of you, who resorts to juvenile name-calling when he can’t come up with a response germane to topic.
Franco C.
His sexuality is really his own business. If he is deeply closeted as some claim then it’s a tragedy that I take no comfort in, nor would I want to shame him for it.
james_in_cambridge
No, no, no! Mr. Barbarino, please stay in the closet and keep Tom Cruise in there with you. We in the gay community have suffered enough!
DarkZephyr
@masc4masc: ” who resorts to juvenile name-calling when he can’t come up with a response germane to topic.”
Coming from someone who calls feminine gay men “gender confused” and “she” or “her” this is really quite rich.
And no, you just suck at sarcasm.
Cam
@masc4masc: said…
“The right to live your life without hurting anyone is a lot different from the “right” to intentionally set out to malign someone. ”
_______________________
Only if you feel that the suggestion somebody is gay is somehow horribly maligning them.
masc4masc
@DarkZephyr: You misunderstood a comment that wasn’t even directed at you, and that’s somehow my fault. Okay. Gender confused isn’t name-calling. It’s actually a very appropriate description for an adult male who’s trying to look like a cross between Kim Kardashian and Sailor Moon. Again, that was a totally different story that has nothing to do with this one.
@Cam: Yet another extremely disingenuous response. Gotterba is threatening to out Travolta even though Travolta has repeatedly denied it. Outing someone is always done maliciously. I really hope you’re just playing stupid.
Cam
@masc4masc: said…
“Yet another extremely disingenuous response. Gotterba is threatening to out Travolta even though Travolta has repeatedly denied it. Outing someone is always done maliciously. I really hope you’re just playing stupid.”
_________________________________
Your response did not explain WHY it is such a horrible thing. You simply said it was ALWAYS done maliciously. What if Travolta didn’t want anybody to know he was…half Irish. Would somebody else reporting that be SO HORRIBLE and World ending?
No of course not. It’s only because deep down you still feel that calling somebody gay is a huge insult. If somebody wanted to out me as Native American or Polish, or Greek, I wouldn’t take it as a HUGE insult. Apparently it’s only when it’s about being gay that it is the worst thing you can be called.
Your response is in that vein. It’s only a horrible thing because both you and Travlota think of it that way. People have called James Franco gay for years, he has no problem with it.
Stache99
@Cam: That’s also because Masc4masc feels a camaraderie with Travolta ie sham convenience marriages and sex on the down low is considered a good thing.
Yeah, Franco is the complete opposite ie completely at ease with his sexuality. Him and his brother play with it and really don’t mind anyone assuming anything.
The only defense I give Travolta is his age. His generation instilled allot of shame in being out. Allot harder when your older.
Stache99
I should say allot harder to come out in later years.
masc4masc
@Cam: I actually did answer, but if you need a more in depth explanation as to why it’s not okay to out someone, it’s because it’s a violation. Your analogy is also very dishonest. It’d be like saying people who think rape is bad feel that way because they must think sex is such a horrible thing. You’re totally disregarding a very invasive violation. If anyone thinks gay is a horrible thing, it’s Gotterba. Travolta’s not the one trying his hardest to make his sexuality a public story.
Cam
@masc4masc:
So let’s see, you claim it’s a violation but don’t say why it is any different than the examples I gave.
THEN you compare saying somebody saying somebody else is gay to a rape analogy.
Do you realize that you just completely backed up my point that you think there is nothing more horrible than saying that somebody is gay.
Thank you for proving my point.
masc4masc
@Cam: If that’s really what you took from what I said, you’re welcome. Your analogies made absolutely no sense, at least not for what I’m saying, which I think you must be misunderstanding. I compared outing someone to rape on the basis that they’re both violations against a person’s right to choose that strip them of their control. I did NOT compare being gay to rape, so I didn’t really prove the point you’re so desperately struggling to make at all.
Cam
@masc4masc:
The issue is you do NOT consider exposing somebody as say, Irish, Polish, Asian, African, etc… as akin to rape. No, just that they are gay.
You only think outting is bad, because you think that being called gay is a horrible label.
vive
Travolta strikes me as creepy. As far as I am concerned, the Church of Scientology are welcome to keep him.
grrrrandy
Travolta makes me so sad.
He was SO fucking beautiful, seemed like such a genuinely nice guy, and then turned into such a weirdo closeted creep.
masc4masc
@Cam: Your melodramatic straw man arguments are quite entertaining, but I never said anything about gay being horrible. You obviously have some SERIOUS inferiority issues. Since you insist on being so persistent with this asinine analogy, I’ll bite:
If someone does not want their ethnicity known, and another person continues to badger them about it in hopes of publicly exposing it, that IS just as malicious and violating as outing someone.
You’ve repeatedly taken my saying “outing someone is malicious” and replaced it with “saying someone is gay isn’t a bad thing”. There’s a big difference between the two. You’re very dishonest and manipulative, so there’s no point in discussing this any further.
masc4masc
@Stache99: I’m not married anymore, and my marriage wasn’t a cover up. My ex and I were/are both openly bisexual (and monogamous), and we’re still very good friends. At least I did something with my life other than cruising bathhouses and popping Truvada. 😉
DeeJayMiles
@Dxley: you’re right, it’s none of anybody’s business. i’m not out at work or in my personal life except to my closest friends. why? because being gay is not a political commitment for me and i don’t feel a need to advocate for changes in society, i just go along, and blend in. nobody knows i’m gay. nobody needs to know what i put in my mouth. Travolta will do it if and when it’s right for him. meanwhile, mind your own business people.
GeriHew
I’m not going to sit on the fence here.
“Kelly Preston, too, would be free.
John Travolta and Kelly Preston were married in 1991. Their marriage has widely been considered one of convenience, with people alleging that she is his beard and he was her ticket to Hollywood stardom. Is the marriage a sham? Nobody knows for certain. Except, of course, for the two parties involved. But we will say that a Hollywood marriage lasting 25 years certainly isn’t the norm. If Travolta were to finally come out, Preston would be freed from her gilded cage. After two and a half decades of marital imprisonment, she could date an actual heterosexual male, have sex, experience a real orgasm, and all that other great stuff that comes along with being a sexy, sexually reawakened, middle-aged woman.”
This is the part of the above article where the author steps out his own “LGBT” closet and reveals his true colors as an obnoxious, monosexist, biphobic bigot. And worst of all a heterosexist gay.
Because of course, if John Travolta were to come out as some sort of MSM, any sort of MSM, he would have to be labeled “Gay,Gay,Gay” and his wife of 25 years would have to immediately start divorce proceedings and their kids be added to those sorry legions of “children from a broken home.”
Graham Gremore, you disgust me.
Ray
As long as he’s content to sit in the closet and doesn’t use his status to campaign against LGBT rights, he should be left to sit in his closet as long as he wants. It burns my butt in a major way when you hear about some homophobic politician or celebrity who rails against LGBG rights gets caught knob-polishing in the park. At least John Travolta isn’t trying to conceal his sexual orientation by class over-compensating.