By LOUIS B. HOBSON --

NEW YORK -- Being married to John Travolta means that for Kelly Preston every night is Saturday night.

"I don't know about giving me a fever but Johnny just needs to smile to raise my temperature," says Preston.

"He's the most lovable, goofy, wonderful person I've ever met. He's also the most amazing human being because he's so positive and upbeat about everything.

"Johnny absolutely loves people and yet he has enough love left over to shower it on me and our son Jett.

"The character he played in Phenomenon is the closest he's ever come to playing himself on screen."

This made watching Travolta's death scene in Phenomenon painful for Preston.

"As it came clear that Johnny's character was going to die, I was sobbing. I hugged his arm so hard, he had bruises and when the lights came up, my face was drenched with mascara."

Preston had hoped to play her husband's love interest in Phenomenon but the role went to Kevin Bacon's wife Kyra Sedgwick.

"I auditioned my heart out for the role. It finally came down to three actresses. The studio had a big problem with John and I being married. They felt if would confuse audiences."

Preston's consolation prize was to play the sexy career girl who dumps Tom Cruise's philandering sports agent in Jerry Maguire.

"First I got to seduce Tom and then I got to punch him out. The first was a pretty scary proposition. The decking was great fun," she recalls.

The seduction scene proved difficult because it called for nudity.

"I tried to talk (director) Cameron Crowe into letting me wear a bra but he wouldn't hear of it so I had to really psyche myself up for that day."

Preston says Cruise was "a real gentleman. We both wore robes until the last moment and he talked non-stop to take my mind off the inevitable disrobing moment. He also demanded it be a completely closed set. There were only about six people on set that day."

In order to make her physical assault of Cruise realistic, Preston took boxing.

"I can tell you Tom got a bit nervous when he saw me sparring with my trainer. He made me rehearse the scene with the stunt men over and over again."

Preston admits that Travolta's career slump before his comeback with Pulp Fiction "was brutal at times. People forgot just how talented Johnny was.

"He was hurt that, for almost a decade, no one considered him for so many roles he would have been brilliant in."

Preston says she and Travolta "love to dance together. He took me dancing (last year) for my birthday at the Rainbow Room in New York.

"He moves with such incredible ease that he makes his partner look as good as he is," she says.


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