For decades now there have been rumours about John Travolta’s sexuality, but the star himself has said little about it. Most of the comments have come from lawyers working on his behalf, denying allegations in lawsuits have been launched against him.

The rumours reached fever pitch in 2012 when several legal cases were launched against him by men alleging sexual battery. Swept up in that was Douglas Gotterba, who claims he had an affair with Travolta in the 1980s and had received a strongly worded letter from the actor’s lawyer, which said he was barred from talking to the media as he’d signed a non-disclosure agreement covering his time working for an airline associated with the movie star.

Gotterba then sued for the right to talk about it, with suggestions that he wished to write a tell-all book.

While the sexual battery lawsuits have disappeared, the Gotterba lawsuit is ongoing and in July he was given leave by an appeals court to take his case forward.

Now Travolta has given a rare comment about the case and the rumours that have swirled around him to The Daily Beast, saying, “This is every celebrity’s Achilles heel. It’s just about people wanting money. That’s all. It happens on many levels. Also, I don’t care that much about [those types of allegations]. Other people may attack it back more than I do, but I let all the media stuff go a long time ago because I can’t control it. I think that’s why it persists, to some degree.”

As for the rumours about his sexuality in general, he comments that the point he felt it really went too far was after the death of his son Jett in 2009, when there was speculation that the family’s nanny, Jeff Kathrein, was Travolta’s lover.

The actor says, “I found it most offensive with the loss of my son. I felt like that was the lowest I’d ever felt. Sex stuff is always going to be interesting to somebody, but you stay away from family. You really should. With that, I always felt like the media – not all of the media, but parts of it – went too low there.”