John Travolta’s special friend is really getting a taste of the good life
This is a fun story that John Travolta really, really doesn’t want us to publish, and has threatened people with lawsuits if we do.
But we wanted to tell you about a couple of brothers named Mike and Jimmy Marino.
Mike Marino works on Hollywood films, and in 2016, he was assigned to handle the special makeup prosthetics for Travolta as they were filming the movie Gotti in Ohio.
Jimmy, meanwhile, was taking time off after being injured on a delivery job. But the way we heard it, Mike asked Travolta if his brother Jimmy could come out to the set to meet him.
When Jimmy came out, Travolta was immediately taken with him and offered him a job as an assistant.
It was a stroke of good luck, and Jimmy immediately became a big part of the lives of John Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston.
At Easter in 2019, for example, Kelly shot a brief video and posted it to her Instagram account, showing Kelly and John’s family enjoying themselves with Jimmy and other members of his family.
There’s no question that Jimmy Marino has been a close aide to Travolta since 2016. He’s credited on several of Travolta’s most recent movies as his assistant, and when Travolta makes a personal appearance, Jimmy is somewhere close by.
In 2019, for example, Travolta reunited with Olivia Newton-John for a showing of the 1978 film Grease that had starred the two of them.
As Travolta and Newton-John arrived at the West Palm Beach event, you could see Jimmy Marino behind them filming them.
As a result, one of the photos published of the event, with Travolta and Newton-John in a car, was credited to Jimmy.
Sadly, on July 12, 2020, Kelly Preston succumbed to cancer.
And maybe it’s natural that in such a difficult time, Travolta and his assistant Jimmy Marino developed an even more special bond.
On Oscars night 2022, for example, before the event that would see Will Smith slap Chris Rock, and with Travolta scheduled to be an award presenter, Travolta and Jimmy posed together for a photo. They both look fabulous.
(As an aside, we don’t know if Jimmy Marino has become a Scientologist, but Travolta keeps proving the persistent tabloid rumors about ditching the church to be untrue. See our recent stories about how Travolta showed up with Elisabeth Moss at a recent event to prove their loyalty to Scientology leader David Miscavige.)
Last year when Jimmy turned 50, Travolta threw him a lavish private party at an expensive steakhouse, Mastro’s, in Beverly Hills, and with a star-studded guest list, including Tommy Lee, Sammy Hagar, Kat Von D, and Motley Crue guitarist John 5.
Kat Von D posted this shot of the birthday cake, which featured an image of Jimmy as a child.
John 5 posted this image of himself with Travolta, Jimmy, and Tommy Lee, saying, “A very Happy birthday to our great friend @jimmy_marino_ the best night ever @jimmy_marino_ @johntravolta @rlowery @brittanyfurlan @tommylee”
In the comments under the photo, Travolta wrote, “Such a fun night. Jimmy is such a sweet soul.”
If Jimmy has benefited as Travolta’s assistant by getting to party with such luminaries, others have benefited too.
Before he worked for Travolta, Jimmy spent years as a roadie for the Ramones. So when it came time for another tribute to Johnny Ramone at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery this year, it became a cool tie-in event with the 30th anniversary of the movie Pulp Fiction, presented by Travolta himself.
“The Johnny Ramone Tribute is ALWAYS great, but this year is insane!!!” wrote DJ Shepard Fairey at his X account, obviously stoked for the Ramones-Pulp Fiction tie in, even if it didn’t make a lot of sense.
But hey, Travolta was there, and Billy Idol, and Jimmy Marino got to perform on stage.
Being the assistant and very close personal friend of John Travolta certainly has its perks.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
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So a guy spends a lot of time with John Travolta and Travolta threatens to sue if anyone publishes a story about that. It’s like a 3 year old spilling something on the kitchen floor and telling mom to stay out of the kitchen. Your story would have been pablum had Travolta not threatened to sue you for publishing it. The biggest thing wrong with this story is that even if these two are “a thing” the majority of the world would not care. Only Scientologists would raise an eyebrow. There’s something wrong with that.
Are they, aren't they, as TonyO says, not that there's anything wrong about that. Speculate as we and the tabloids will, both seem happy and what is wrong with that. Why would anyone threaten to sue over this story? Streisand Effect indeed.