Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's circle of A-list friends is dwindling with the likes of David and Victoria Beckham, Tom Cruise and now Taylor Swift cosying up to Prince William and Kate Middleton instead of the Sussexes. But there is one Hollywood legend the couple have been keeping in their back pocket – until now.
Harry and Meghan had grown close to John Travolta and were keen to put him front and centre of their friendship circle after the Grease actor personally recommended Harry for the Living Legend of Aviation award, which he picked up back in January. But John is now cooling off, preferring to live a more reclusive life than one in the spotlight as he enters his 70s.
A source tells Closer, “Meghan and Harry still count John as a close friend, but it’s disappointing to them that they’re not getting to see him as often as they hoped. After John presented the award to Harry at the aviation awards, they hoped they’d be able to connect with him more. They had all these plans to involve him in Meghan’s brand launch, and they’ve sent him countless dinner invites but so far, he’s been pretty unreceptive."
But the insider maintains that John has "no issues" with the couple and the distance all comes down to his age.
They continue, "He still likes them and has never said a bad word, but at the end of the day he’s a 70-year-old man who prefers to stay at home. He’s actually a very shy and private person who prefers to spend his time with his kids and a small handful of his close friends. He almost never goes out so it's nothing personal against Meghan and Harry, he’s politely just doing his own thing.
"But of course, they’re struggling not to get their feelings hurt and the irony isn't lost on them that Tom Cruise is now throwing himself at the royals. They’d really hoped that John would be in their corner,
it would have been the perfect way to prove that they’re just as in with the Hollywood A-list crown as the royals are. What’s even worse is they could see him getting reeled in by William who’s clearly hell bent on one-upping them."
Of course, Saturday Night Fever star John has a long-lasting friendship with the Royal family, dating back to 1985 when he famously joined Prince Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, on the dance floor at a party at The White House.
Speaking about the iconic moment in a 2021 documentary, John recalled how the then-First Lady of the United States, Nancy Reagan, told him it was Princess Diana's "fantasy" to dance with him.
He said, "My heart starts to race, you know, and I tap her on the shoulder and she turns around and looks at me, and she had that kind of bashful dip [of her chin] that she did, and she looked up at me, and I said, 'Would you care to dance with me?' "The whole room cleared. We danced for what felt like 15 minutes. It was a storybook moment, we bowed when it was over, and, you know, she was off, and I was off, and my carriage turned into a pumpkin."
Harry made light of his friend's dance with his mother when he handed him the Living Legend of Aviation award, joking that he had told "everybody here" about the moment and would continue "dining out on that."