Posted August 28, 2009 5:31:00 PM From >
ET has confirmed that actress Kelly Preston has cancelled a speaking engagement in which she was set to discuss the tragic loss of her son, Jett Travolta.
The actress was asked by her friend, California first lady Maria Shriver, to speak about her loss at Shriver''s annual Conference for Women on a panel titled "Grief and Resilience."
"It is with my sincere apologies that I must pull out from speaking at [the] conference. I am sorry, but I truly believed that I could do it," Preston tells People.com. "Otherwise I never would have said that I could. But I am still deeply in the process of healing, and it''s just too soon."
Last January, the 16-year-old son of Preston and her husband John Travolta suddenly passed away of a seizure while the family was vacationing in the Bahamas.
Shriver''s mother, Eunice Kennedy, died earlier this month at the age of 88, while her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, passed away on Tuesday.
The California first lady tells People: "I know how hard it was for Kelly to make this decision and she has my complete support and understanding. Everyone has their own path to healing and their own timetable for grieving. Kelly''s presence at The Women''s Conference will be missed, but the main stage conversation on grief and resilience with Elizabeth Edwards, Susan Saint James and myself will continue as planned. Having just lost my own mother and my uncle, I believe it''s an important and meaningful subject because loss and grief will touch everyone at some point in their lives."
The speech would have marked Kelly''s first time speaking publicly about coping with her loss. The Conference for Women will take place in Long Beach, CA, Oct. 26-27. |
