John Travolta: "My Son Was Autistic"

In the extortion trial that started this week in the Bahamas involving the death of his 16-year-old son Jett, PEOPLE reports that John Travolta publicly stated for the first time that his son had autism:

My son was autistic and he suffered from seizure disorder every 5 to 10 days," Travolta told the court. "He would suffer a seizure that would last 45 seconds to a minute and sleep for 12 hours."

With wife Kelly Preston in the courtroom supporting him, John also revealed to the nine-person jury how he attempted to save Jett’s life after the nanny woke him up at around 10:15 AM on Jan. 2 to tell him Jett was unconscious. John explained that he went downstairs and saw his son on the ground with one of his caretakers doing chest compressions.

The 55-year-old Golden Globe-winning actor went on to testify that he performed CPR on Jett, which ultimately did not save his life.