John Travolta: 'That was the lowest I'd ever felt'

John Travolta. Photo/AP

John Travolta has spoken publicly for the first time about claims made by his former pilot that he had been romantically involved with him.

At the start of the year, Douglas Gotterba alleged that he and the actor had enjoyed a sexual relationship when he was under his employment.

According to documents filed at the Court of Appeal in California, Gotterba worked for Travolta's aircraft company, Alto, for six years before leaving voluntarily in 1987.

Travolta and Gotterba are currently embroiled in a legal dispute over the claims.

Gotterba argues that he was not tied to a confidentiality agreement during his term in the position, which would have prevented him from disclosing the details of "his personal and intimate relationship" with Travolta.

Travolta's attorney, Martin Singer, strongly disputes this.

"This is every celebrity's Achilles heel," he told The Daily Beast.

"It's just about people wanting money. That's all. It happens on many levels.

"Also, I don't care that much about it. Other people may attack it back more than I do, but I let all the media stuff go a long time ago because I can't control it.

"I think that's why it persists, to some degree."

Asked whether he found the accusations offensive, he responded: "I found it most offensive with the loss of my son. I felt like that was the lowest I'd ever felt. Sex stuff is always going to be interesting to somebody, but you stay away from family.

"You really should. With that, I always felt like the media - not all of the media, but parts of it - went too low there."

Jett Travolta died at 16 after suffering a seizure during a family holiday in the Bahamas in January 2009 - an event the actor described earlier this year as "the worst thing that's ever happened in my life".

However, Travolta's lawyer, Martin Singer, first heard that Gotterba had "given statements" to the National Enquirer, and was planning to chart his time with Travolta in a tell-all book, in 2012.

Singer warned Gotterba in June the same year that breaching the purported four-page "enforceable" gagging order could lead to a payment running to "tens of millions of dollars". "You proceed at your peril," he said.

Gotterba denies having ever signed such a termination agreement, despite Alto's insistence that he did so in April 1991.

The legal dispute continues.

- Independent