When John Travolta met his wife, Kelly Preston, at a screen test for the 1989 comedy The Experts, she was married to fellow actor Kevin Gage.
“She came in this, this gorgeous woman,” the 64-year-old told Us Weekly while promoting his new film Gotti on Tuesday, May 15. “We had an immediate chemistry.”
Though Preston was unavailable, a smitten Travolta, then 37, couldn’t resist striking up a conversation. “I remember she was going down the steps. And I was on top, and I said, ‘May I ask you a question?’ and she said, ‘Yes,’ and I said, ‘What’s it like to be married? Is it a good thing?’”
He was taken back by her response. “She said, ‘I love it,’” and I thought, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great to be married to someone who loves being married?’”
Preston, who costars with her husband of 26 years in the biographical crime drama, remembers the day well. “I see, no lie, coming across the hall with his two dogs, this really hot guy,” the actress, 55, told Us and other reporters on Tuesday. “Then he stops and says hello. And I was like, ‘Oh s—t. Kill me now.’ You know, like, ‘Oh my God.’ And that was my first meeting with him.”
A mutual friend who was at the screen test predicted that Preston and the Pulp Fiction actor would end up together. “She told him him, ‘You’re going to meet this girl and you’re going to fall in love with her, and you’re going to want to get married.’”
Preston credits compatibility as the secret to their happy, healthy union. “Communication is huge,” she said. “Continue playing. People will let their marriage go but you have to have fun, play, have date night, you know, make it last.”
Gotti opens in theaters on June 15.
