Jenny McCarthy On How Jett Travolta’s Death Hit Close To Home

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FIRST PUBLISHED: January 15, 2009 4:26 PM EST
LAST UPDATED: January 15, 2009 5:48 PM EST

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Jenny McCarthy knows the terror of nearly losing her autistic son, Evan, following a seizure. Evan was saved, while sadly, John Travolta’s son, Jett, died from his seizure, a death that hit Jenny close to home.

“When I first heard the news about Jett, I slowly kind of sat down… because my heart went out to them – you know, such compassion and understanding for what they’ve gone through,” Jenny told Access.

A tragic common bond – Jenny’s 6-year-old autistic son Evan also suffers from seizures.

“Last year, Evan had another seizure where he seized for seven hours on and off and we had to put him in a coma for four days so he wouldn’t go into cardiac arrest,” Jenny revealed. “So looking at Jett, I cried out of fear for my own son, and for, I can’t even tell you how many children, with autism.”

Though she is an outspoken autism activist, Jenny doesn’t want to jump to any conclusions about Jett.

“I have no idea if Jett had autism,” she clarified. “I didn’t see, you know, enough footage, or ever meet Jett to give a diagnosis of my own.”

But if Jett had, in fact, been diagnosed as autistic, Jenny does not fault the Travoltas for keeping it quiet.

“It’s very difficult to go places where everyone sees who you are and then their eyes immediately go to the child ‘cause they know what the diagnosis is and they stare at the child,” she said. “And no one ever wants that feeling, so they tend to keep it quiet.

“They should have the right to keep whatever they want to themselves, and share what they want with the world,” she added.

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