Meanest Story nominee: Travolta's secret separation.

Publication: National Enquirer

Date: 29 August 2011



Yet again, the Enquirer's war on fat Scientologists continues unabated. According to some "pal" they talked to, John Travolta has left his wife Kelly Preston and their marriage is shattered. The same "pal" reports the quote "Kelly and I have become strangers."



This is a nominee for Meanest Story of the Week.

You So Crazy Alert™: Lisa Marie Presley hits rock bottom!

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 1 August 2011

Fresh trash tomorrow! Last trash of the week... right now!

The idea of this blog is to keep track of the narrative behind the seemingly random headlines in the supermarket rags. One strong theme has been the National Enquirer's hatred for Scientologists, most especially fat Scientologists. Tom Cruise they leave alone for the most part. (Other mags have it in for him.) Jenna Elfman is not a topic of conversation at all. But Lisa Marie Presley, Kirstie Alley and John Travolta... nothing but hate, hate, hate for them.

Except maybe this week. They do hate on Lisa Marie, saying she's hit rock bottom, but they also say her pal Travolta is rushing in to save her.

The Enquirer has done some serious dumping on Travolta. He's gay, he's cheating on his wife, he abandoned his family, he's fat, he's going bald, you name it. But at least they admit that he does try to do outreach to people he knows who are in trouble. There was also a story about him trying to help Jeff Conaway a week before Conaway died.

Meanest Story nominee: Travolta baby autism shocker!

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 11 July 2011

The Enquirer continues their war on fat Scientologists with a story that Benjamin Travolta, the new baby of John Travolta and Kelly Preston, is autistic. Here are the headlines.

• Doctor tells all
• John and Kelly in marriage counseling
• All their secrets
  

This is a nominee for Meanest Story of the Week.

Surprisingly nice headline of the week: Travolta's battle to save tragic "Taxi" star.

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 30 May 2011

Fresh trash on Thursdays! Welcome to 2011 tabloid gossip hell, Jeff Conaway!

For those of you visiting the blog for the first time, know that AMI, the company that owns the National Enquirer and four other gossip rags, hates Scientology with every fiber of their being, hating John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and Tom Cruise almost equally. So this week, it comes as a surprise that they put up a positive story about Travolta doing his best to help out his Grease co-star Jeff Conaway, whose problems with booze and pain killers have been well documented on all those miserable celebrity rehab shows.

I have no love for Scientology either, but anyone willing to reach out to help a pal from back in the day is doing the right thing in my book.

Bun In The Oven Alert™: Kelly Preston is pregnant again.

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 4 April 2011

If we are to believe the Flagship, and this is always a questionable decision, John Travolta's wife Kelly Preston is pregnant once again at age 49. This story is such a scoop, there is neither confirmation or denial online.

John Travolta is going bald!

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 7 March 2011

Fresh trash on Thursdays! If you have been paying any attention at all, you are already aware the National Enquirer hates John Travolta. They have accused him of being gay, fat and running out on his wife and their infant son. So this week's latest slur against him, that he is going bald, comes off as weak, petty and desperate.

This reminds me of one of Padre Mickey's favorite Bible stories, where the prophet Elisha is set upon by a crowd of young toughs, who mock him with the phrase "Go on up, you baldhead!" Provoked beyond his limit, Elisha curses the rabble to God, and the Big Guy, just trying to do Elisha a favor, sends a pack of she-bears who maul 42 of the ruffians.

Now there's a God who demands respect, not some goofy Scientology alien.

Meanest Story nominee:Kelly Preston's $11 million tell-all book.

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 7 February 2011

For anyone coming in on the middle of this story, understand that the National Enquirer in particular and most of the magazines published by AMI in general have it in for Scientology, and they pick on John Travolta and his family on a regular basis. This week, they have a mean cover story that Travolta's wife Kelly Preston is going to publish that favorite sacred text of the tabloids, the tell all book. Here are the details from the sub headlines.

• 19 years of secrets
• Baby Ben's medical crisis
• Truth about John's gay affairs
• What really happened the day their son Jett died

I have no love for Scientology, but I hate liars even more. Right now, the Travoltas are presenting a united family front and they have a new baby. If she wanted to write those things for money, she'd probably get more dough putting them in a bill of divorcement. Yet again, the Enquirer gets a nomination for Meanest Story of the Week for yet another salvo in their war against the Travoltas.

Co-Meanest Story of the Week:Travolta's fears for Baby Ben

photos from Woman's Day (Australia)
Publication: Star
Date: 31 January 2011

While Kelly Preston was pregnant, the AMI kennel told every possible story about her. She was having twins. She was having a miscarriage. She wasn't really pregnant, there was a secret surrogate. There was last minute drama, reported weeks before the baby arrived. The baby came from an egg donor.

Then the baby arrived and the Globe ran a story about the fears for her new son Benjamin. That was early December and now that story gets repeated in late January by the Globe.

Okay, AMI. We get it. You hate Scientologists. Personally, I don't care for the cult very much myself. But leave the baby alone, will ya?

I proclaim this story Co-Meanest Story of the Week.

Bundle of joy alert:Meet Benjamin Travolta

Publication: People
Date: 24 January 2011

The Travoltas have pictures of their new baby in People this week, though they were officially scooped by the British gossip rag Hello!, who ran pictures of parents and child last week, even with the same quote "He's brought us a new beginning."

Best wishes to the happy family.

On the rocks alert: John Travolta walks out on his family.

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 10 January 2011

The calendar may have changed, but not the Flagship's desire to destroy any happiness John Travolta might find in his life. The AMI kennel predicted every possible disaster for Kelly Preston's pregnancy, but now that it's over and mother and baby are doing fine, they tell us Dad has left the nest and is staying in a hotel.

Hairdresser Alert™:Carrie Fisher confesses John Travolta is gay.

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 27 December 2010

Fresh trash tomorrow! Last trash of the week... right now!

The Flagship decides to take an interview Carrie Fisher gave to The Advocate and spread it to a completely different audience. Ms. Fisher, who can be a very funny writer and has always had a mouth on her, said in an interview with the gay magazine that it is a well-known secret in Hollywood that John Travolta is gay and she's sorry he is so uncomfortable with it.

I have two problems with this story.

One, if someone isn't a gay-bashing politician/preacher/whatever and he wants to keep his sexuality private, I say let him keep it private.

Two, the word "confess" in that sentence. If she said she herself was gay, that would be a confession. Telling a third party somebody else's secrets is not and can never be a confession. It's usually called "ratting" or "snitching" and there are good reasons why rats and snitches have a bad reputation.

Stay classy, Carrie, and as always, stay classy, Enquirer.

On the rocks alert:Travolta marriage crisis

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 13 December 2010

For those of you just coming into this story in the middle, the AMI kennel, lead by the Enquirer and the Star, hate John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston. They concocted multiple contradictory stories about her problems with her pregnancy (click on the Kelly Preston label to read them all), and accused him of having multiple gay lovers.

Now that the child is born and all is well according to reliable press accounts, the Enquirer is back to says the marriage is in trouble rather than the baby is in peril. It's my best guess that AMI has one or more informants, either ex-Scientologists or disgruntled moles, and they will continue to tell nasty stories of questionable truthiness about famous Scientologists for the foreseeable future.

Meanest Story nominee:Fears for Travolta's newborn son

Publication: Globe
Date: 13 December 2010

Without question, pregnancies involve risk for women over 40, but Kelly Preston gave birth last week without complications as far as we know. That's not good enough for the Globe, who have a short headline saying the baby's health is still at risk.

For the first time since I instituted the poll for Meanest Story of the Week, all three mean stories come from the same publication, and that lovely periodical is the Globe.

Breaking news:Kelly Preston gives birth

Publication: Associated Press (via Popeater. com)
Date: 24 November 2010

Kelly Preston has given birth to an 8 lb. 3 oz. (3.8 kg) baby boy Benjamin, and both are resting comfortably.

Bun In The Oven Alert™:Kelly Preston's egg donor shocker!

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 29 November 2010

The rabid dogs in the AMI kennel have been happy to publish any story that says the Kelly Preston pregnancy is not going well. This week, the lead rabid dog the Enquirer, which I also call The Flagship, says that Kelly is carrying the baby to term but a younger woman was the egg donor. Compare this to the Globe story from two weeks ago that said the pregnancy was fake and some other woman would be giving birth and that baby would be raised by the Travoltas as though it was Kelly's own.

The Enquirer then speculates as to the identity of the egg donor, assuming it must be a younger woman who is also a Scientologist. Possible choices put on the cover include Katie Holmes, Jenna Elfman and Lisa Marie Presley's daughter Danielle Riley Keough.

Bun In The Oven Alert™:Last minute drama in the Kelly Preston pregnancy

Publication: Star
Date: 22 November 2010

The Star, the most independent cur in the AMI kennel, fills up the front cover about Kelly Preston's dramatic delivery. Here are the details.

• Kelly's 48 and the pregnancy is high risk
• John had a grueling 22 hour flight home to be there
• How their new son is helping them heal
• John talks to Star about baby Benjamin

Wow, that's a lot of details. The only problem is that the Travoltas have denied all of them. Kelly hasn't delivered yet, so the long plane flight story is pure bunk. Except for calling her pregnancy high risk, which is valid, the story is pretty positive in its tone, it only fails because none of it is true.

On the rocks alert:John Travolta caught cheating on tape!

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 25 October 2010

I can't say much nice about the National Enquirer and nobody should. But I will say one thing. They are tenacious. There have been several celebrities they have decided to hate and they keep going after them, even if nearly no other gossip rag thinks the story is worth pursuing. This year, we've seen the Flagship given this kind of treatment to Al Gore, Whitney Houston and John Edwards. Now they have John Travolta in their sights. The details this time include:

• Sleazy hotel hookers
• what's on a shocking video tape
• his pregnant wife Kelly humiliated weeks before giving birth

The level of hatred they show is remarkable. It should be noted that back in July, the Enquirer had a headline that made it look like Kelly Preston had a miscarriage, which was a complete lie.

The Enquirer has had some successes in the past decade, most notably uncovering the secret lives of Rush Limbaugh and John Edwards, but they also go off half cocked a lot and their headline writers often make sensational claims the stories on the inside of the magazine cannot back up.

On the Rocks Alert with an oblique hairdresser reference:John Travolta living a lie

Publication: Star
Date: 11 October 2010

This story is playing out in a strange way. Last week, it was the National Enquirer who had the six secret lovers story. This week, it's the Star. The cover headline reads as follows.

John caught in cheating scandal
LIVING A LIE
The bombshell charge that John had multiple secret lovers is just the latest blow to the Travolta marriage. With her baby due in weeks, will Kelly be able to keep up the charade?

So this same story has been the headline for two weeks, but only on the Enquirer website to they come right out and say John's lovers are men. Nowhere on either cover was the word "gay" mentioned, but it is on the Flagship's website this week.

This is very odd. The Enquirer has printed nine Hairdresser Alerts™ this year, about one a month. Why they would be coy about using the word on their cover when their animosity towards Travolta is already completely obvious is beyond me. It's also a little odd for the Star to pick up the scraps off the Enquirer's table. They are owned by the same company, but it's more common for stories from The Flagship to be followed up by the Globe or the low rent Examiner.

Meanest story nominee:John Travolta's six secret lovers

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 4 October 2010

It's not a secret. The Enquirer flat out hates John Travolta. It's probably an anti-Scientology thing, but it's no excuse for the viciousness of the stories. They had a headline in July about a miscarriage drama for Kelly Preston that doesn't seem to have had any basis in fact, and now that she is nearly due, they print a story that her husband has six secret lovers.

Can you hate both Scientology and the National Enquirer? Yes, you can and I'm living proof.

Meanest Story nominee:John Travolta caught cheating

Publication: National Enquirer
Date: 13 September 2010

Let's be clear. The National Enquirer hates John Travolta. It very well may have something to do with Scientology. That theory is bolstered by this week's Enquirer cover that goes after three different Scientologists.

In any case, back to Travolta. He's still mourning his lost son, the Enquirer has gone after his wife's pregnancy, and now they say he's cheating. To top it off with a picture of him with his shirt off that is exceedingly unflattering.

I don't like Scientology either, but this really feels like piling on.