John Travolta is on his way to the Bahamas to testify in the extortion trial of paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and his lawyer, Pleasant Bridgewater, who is a former Bahamian senator. The two are accused of trying to blackmail Travolta out of 25 million dollars after his son Jett’s death.

Tarino administered emergency aid to Jett when an ambulance was called to the Travolta family’s Bahamian retreat on January 2nd after Jett reportedly had a seizure then fell and hit his head in the bathtub. Allegedly, Tarino and Bridgewater later threatened to release information about Jett’s death to the press unless Travolta payed up.

I’m not at all sympathetic with someone who would attempt to blackmail a grieving father right after his son’s death, but it does make me wonder about the circumstances surrounding Jett’s death if some lowlife thought it would be worth $25 million to Travolta to keep the details a secret. If you remember, the Travoltas had always maintained that Jett had an illness known as Kawasaki Syndrome that they claimed caused Jett’s seizures. Many in the press claimed the illness was actually autism– a disease that Scientology does not acknowledge and for which Jett would not have received the treatment he needed.

The trial is slated to begin on Monday. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of it.

In other Scientology news, Will-I-am-not-a-scientologist-Smith had some interesting deductions show up on his 2008 tax return. He donated over $100,000 to Scientology groups last year. That’s a lot of scratch for someone who’s not a level 3 grand inquisitor of the luminous realm (or whatever the hell their crazy titles are). 411mania also offers up this little nugget:

Smith also recently replaced the headmaster of his Southern California private school, The New Village Leadership Academy, with a new headmaster who has completed Scientology courses in the past.

Wait. Will Smith owns a private school??? How did I miss that one?

I’m highly suspicious of a couple, any couple, when one or both of them spend all their time talking about how much intercourse they have.  I think people who are truly happy together don’t have to constantly be telling everyone how truly happy they are.  Will and Jada Smith are always talking about how they keep their marriage alive by doing it at their friends’ houses and now Jada is back on the Too Damn Much Information plan, by talking about their pre-Oscar tryst with Shape magazine:

“When you have three kids, you’ve got to take your opportunities when they come. In a limo, on the way to the Academy Awards this year, Will started looking at me in this way that drives me wild. We started kissing passionately, and the next thing I knew, well, let’s just say we missed the red carpet and I ended up with almost no makeup on.”

God, it’s just so much more than I ever needed to know about those two.  Of course, I’ve inspected all the Oscar night pictures and I don’t think they look all that sexed up.  Examples in the gallery for your inspection.

Jada Pinkett has been terrifying Redbook readers by sharing her secrets to keeping her love life alive.  It’s as simple as fornicating in other people’s washrooms.

“Be sneaky… your girlfriend’s house at a party. The bathroom. A bedroom.  Think of places outside that are comfortable to have sex.  Does he have access to his office? Have a fantasy date. Be his secretary!  (Do) anything it takes to keep the flame alive.”

How many of Will and Jada’s friends are having their houses disinfected at this very moment?

Will Smith hung out with Ashley and Carlton — er, Tatyana Ali and Alfonso Ribeiro — at the premiere of his new flick, Seven Pounds.

They all look exactly the same as they did back then!

So, Columbia Pictures is remaking The Karate Kid … as a star vehicle for Will Smith’s progeny, Jaden.

The film will be produced by Jerry Weintraub (who launched the original franchise) and Overbrook Entertainment’s James Lassiter, Will Smith and Ken Stovitz. Will Smith, who is the 10-year-old actor’s father, co-starred alongside Jaden in his feature debut, “The Pursuit of Happyness,” which Overbrook and Escape Artists produced for Columbia.

The script is being written by Chris Murphy, and the film will shoot next year in Beijing and other cities. While the new film will be set in that exotic locale, it will borrow elements of the original plot, wherein a bullied youth learns to stand up for himself with the help of an eccentric mentor.

China Film Group Corp. will co-produce in China.

The younger Smith, who next stars in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” is a martial arts practitioner.

Dude, I’d be famous, too, if Will Smith were my father, pulling every imaginable string to put me in the public eye and create a level of fame for me that I’m in no way equipped to handle, allowing the world to cast a larger-than-life image on me that I’m too young to differentiate from the person I actually am, leading to a lifelong and painful struggle to become this non-existent, impossible person I feel I ought to be. Instead, I had a dad who cared about my best interests. No fair.

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith are two of the founders of a new private elementary school in Calabasas called the New Village Academy. The school will incorporate a teaching method developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and employ some teachers who are church members, although students of any religious background will be welcome. Assuming they get accepted and can pay what is sure to be astronomical tuition.

This Hubbard-influenced teaching method is called “study technology.” It focuses on hands-on experience, mastering a subject before moving on and not reading past words students don’t understand.

The curriculum also includes living skills, robotics, yoga, etiquette and technology. The school has a no-sugar policy and encourages parents to limit their children’s television time.

“New Village Academy was born of a simple question, ‘Is it possible to create an educational environment in which children have fun learning?’” says Will. “Jada and I believe the answer is ‘Yes.’”

Anyway, I’m sure Will & Jada are going to take all kinds of shit for using Hubbard’s techniques, but my take on it is this: whatever we’re doing in the school system in this country right now isn’t working. So, while I certainly hope they’ll stop short of bringing any Xenu into the classroom, I applaud them for exploring an alternate approach to early education.

Despite being an outspoken proponent of Obama’s candidacy, Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett-Smith pose with Chelsea Clinton at Elton John’s AIDS Foundation benefit in Windsor.

I guess now that Obama’s the nominee everyone can be friends again.

Will Smith’s new film Hancock opens the same day as his daughter Willow’s flick, Kitt Ketteridge: An American Girl, where she stars opposite Abigail Breslin. So will there be tension in the household? Of course not. It’s the Smiths. They’re perfect. In fact, Will is cutting short his promotional duties for Hancock tomorrow so that he can join Willow at her film’s premiere in LA.

I also have to say that Willow, who’s seven, is already strikingly beautiful. She totally got the best of both parents (unlike some people … coughRUMERcough). She is gonna be one hot little teenager. I wonder if she can act. Man, I sure hope she can. This girl has TONS of potential in the gossip world as she ages.

Wunder-couple Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith — who have been together for 57 years now — hit up the LA Lakers and Boston Celtics NBA Finals Game 4 in LA.

Okay, you wanna know something funny?

I had no idea the NBA finals were going on right now. And if you had told me, and you’d offered me $1000 to name just one of the teams who were playing, you would have left with all your money. And I’ve been living in Los Angeles for the past five years.

See, this is what happens when you’re single forever. When I had a boyfriend, I knew these things.

I mean, from a height perspective, it would just work better, doncha think?

Tom, Katie, Will and Jada all attended the very first annual Black Women in Hollywood luncheon on Thursday.

And while I’m all about recognizing the work of black women in Hollywood, I also think the surest way to make such an event not about black women in Hollywood is to have Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise there. I mean, I guess it means people like me are writing about it, but, in all honesty, I saw these pics of Tom & Katie and thought to myself, “Hm, I want to use these pictures. Now I just have to figure out a way to involve black people, too, or I’ll take shit for writing about a Black Women in Hollywood luncheon while running a photo of Tom Cruise.” But you know what? That’s what everyone is going to do.

Thoughts?

Will Smith’s son has landed a role in Fox’s remake of the sci-fi thriller “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

Jaden Smith will play Jacob, the rebellious 8-year-old stepson of scientist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) who first makes contact with the humanoid alien Klaatu (Keanu Reeves).

Jaden is 9 years old.

How old was Drew Barrymore when she first started drinking? 11 or so? Somebody get this kid to the bars! We’ve got a budding star on our hands!

We ignored the Will-Smith-loves-Hitler story around here, because it was stupid, and blown out of proportion, and Will Smith agrees.

Basically, he was quoted by a reporter as saying: “Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today.’ I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good.’”

I don’t know why Will Smith said this. Memo to celebrities: There are literally billions of people on this earth to talk about. Try to avoid discussing Hitler. Like, always. Seriously, when you feel the word “Hitler” coming out of your mouth, just replace it with “Evil Beet.” The gist of it should still work, and I get free PR.

Anyway, of course this was a big ole scandal, and now Will’s all like, “Um, dude, I’m no Hitler-lover,” in the form of this official statement: “It is an awful and disgusting lie. It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation. Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet.”

So there you have it:

Hitler, bad. Will Smith, good. Genocide, bad. I Am Legend, good.

Everyone all straightened out now? Okay then.