Losing a child is any parent's worst nightmare. Just ask John Travolta, who went through that very nightmare in 2009 when his 16-year-old son, Jett, passed away from injuries caused by a seizure. Jett was severely autistic throughout his short life, and his seizure was the icing on a very bad cake.

"The truth is, I didn't know if I was going to make it," the actor told Us Weekly. "Life was no longer interesting to me, so it took a lot to get me better."

The actor, who has two other children with his wife, actress Kelly Preston -- Ella Bleu and Benjamin; Benjamin was born after Jett's death -- claims that it was his belief in Scientology that got him through what was undoubtedly the worst time in his life. "I will forever be grateful to Scientology for supporting me for two years solid, I mean Monday through Sunday," he said. "They didn't take a day off, working through different angles of the techniques to get through grief and loss, and to make me feel that finally I could get through a day." 

Even more impressively, Travolta claims that it was also the support of actor James Gandolfini -- whom Travolta befriended when they worked on Get Shorty together -- who helped him cope. The former Sopranos actor, who died last year of a heart attack, can take comfort in knowing that Travolta hasn't forgotten the good deed, and in fact will pay it forward by taking care of the surviving members of Gandolfini's family, which include a wife and young children. "My goal is to make sure that his family is okay," he said. "His little boy, I watched him grow up, and his brand new little girl. We'll just make sure they're taken care of. That's the whole idea." 

According to ABC News, Travolta -- who celebrated his birthday yesterday -- gave the interview to the BBC when he was in London, at the Royal Theatre.