1976 TV Movie Sparked Controversial Romance Between John Travolta and His Co-Star
Many fans of the 1976 made-for-TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble don't realize that actor John Travolta, then 22, began an off-screen romance with his co-star Diana Hyland, then 40, who portrayed his mom in the movie. However, any public attention that arose around their 18-year age gap was quickly erased when the romantic relationship ended in heartbreaking tragedy.
The popular TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, starring a young Travolta was a family viewing staple in the mid-70s. The movie was fictional but also inspired by the true stories of two boys, David Vetter and Ted DeVita, who both had medical conditions that required they spend their lives in sterile, germ-free enclosures to survive.
While making The Boy in the Plastic Bubble in spring and summer 1976, Travolta was a rising star, having earned his breakout TV role on the popular series Welcome Back, Kotter, which ran 1975–1979. He also played a small role in the movie Carrie in 1976, but The Boy in the Plastic Bubble was his next big role.
In the TV movie, Travolta's character Tod Lubitch develops a blooming, on-screen teen crush on his neighbor Gina Biggs (Glynnis O'Connor). However off-screen, it was the actress who played his mother, Mickey Lubitch (Hyland), who stole his heart.
Travolta met Hyland on the set of the TV movie and started a whirlwind romance. In 1977, Travolta told People about the couple's immediate, on-set chemistry, "From the moment I met her, I was attracted" he said. "We were like two maniacs talking all the time on the set of Bubble. After a month, it became romantic."
"I had more fun with Diana than I ever had in my life," Travolta continued at the time. "And the odd thing is just before we met, I thought I would never have a successful relationship. She told me that she too had thought the same thing. Then, bam."
While the couple's 18-year age gap stirred up some public fascination, age differences like theirs were less scrutinized in the 1970s, for better or for worse. The couple got media attention for sure, especially as Travolta garnered more attention.
Travolta was teetering on the edge of super-stardom. For context, this relationship took place while Travolta was filming Saturday Night Fever (1977), and Grease wouldn't come out until 1978. Hyland, on the other hand, had a more established career as a television and stage actress, often appearing in prime-time dramas, soap operas, and made-for-TV movies.
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Before she met Travolta, Hyland had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 1975, and had chemotherapy and a mastectomy. However, during the same time period that she and Travolta were involved, the cancer spread and her health quickly deteriorated. In the middle of production on Saturday Night Fever, Travolta flew home to Los Angeles to be by Hyland's side when she died on March 27, 1977. He recalled that he "felt the breath go out of her."
Over the decades, Travolta has maintained how deeply affected he was by this romantic relationship and Hyland's death. After she passed away, the actor said he had "never been more in love with anyone in my life."
"I gave her great joy the last months of her life," he also shared. "I always feel she is with me-I mean, her intentions are. Diana always wanted the world for me in every possible way."
Age-gap relationships in Hollywood have always fascinated fans and still do, and the tragic ending to Travolta and Hyland's love story amid Travolta's rise to fame only added to its spectacle and lore. Whether you call it fan obsession or escapism, the rabid public interest in celebrity lives continues to be undeterred today.
Nearly 50 years later, the Travolta and Hyland relationship remains one of the more surprising and emotional chapters in 1970s Hollywood celebrity history-one many may have never even heard before-and it's especially compelling for fans who only knew Travolta as the breakout star he became in time.
Here's a photo of John Travolta and Diana Hyland out on the town in in LA:
The movie characters Tod Lubitch (John Travolta) and Gina Biggs (Glynnis O'Connor), separated by the plastic of his "bubble," share an on-screen kiss:
John Travolta in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, 1976:
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble is available for streaming on YouTube (currently free with ads), Pluto TV, Prime Video, and PLEX, where subscription and other fees may apply.
Related: 1976 Classic Movie About a Rowdy Team of Misfits You Still Quote Is 50 Years Old Today
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This story was originally published May 20, 2026 at 7:33 PM.