John Travolta and Kelly Preston arrive at court

NASSAU (Reuters) - John Travolta frantically tried to save his son by performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, the actor told a Bahamian court on Wednesday in the trial of two people accused of attempting to extort $25 million from him.

The Pulp Fiction actor is the star witness in the sensational prosecution of an ambulance driver and former senator accused of extorting Travolta days after Jett Travolta, 16, died in January.

Travolta said Jett’s autism was such a huge burden that few days ever passed without a scary seizure.

“Yes, my son was autistic and he suffered from seizure disorder,” the actor said, under the friendly questioning of prosecutor Bernard Turner.

“Every five to 10 days he would suffer seizures that would last 45 seconds to a minute, and then he would sleep for 13 hours.”

Travolta said he was sleeping next to wife Kelly Preston when a nanny pounded on his door in the early morning hours of Jan. 2.

“I ran down stairs to help my son with my wife to my son’s bedroom,” Travolta told the jury of six women and three men. “I saw he [Jett] was on the bathroom floor.”

John Travolta and Kelly Preston leave the court building in Nassau, Bahamas, following the actor's testimony.

To his horror, Travolta described the horrible scene of his unconscious son and employees desperately trying to revive him.

“His other nanny Jeff Kathrein and an employee for [the resort] were doing CPR,” said Travolta. “I took the place of the woman doing CPR.

“Jeff Kathrein who is his other nanny was doing compression, I was doing breathing and I had asked if an ambulance had been called and they said ‘yes,’ an ambulance had been called.”

Travolta had only been on the stand for about 15 minutes when defense lawyers raised objections to testimony he was about to give.

Senior Justice Anita Allen cleared her courtroom and called for an early lunch break so lawyers could haggle over procedural dispute.

Travolta — wearing a black suit, white shirt and silver tie — entered court holding hands with Preston, who was in a navy blue dress. They were surrounded by an entourage of the supercouple’s lawyers.

Former Bahamian Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater and ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne have pleaded not guilty to extortion charges.

They allegedly wanted Travolta to pay them $25 million to keep secret documents the “Saturday Night Fever” star signed, which held paramedics harmless if they didn’t take Jett to the hospital.

Travolta, an avid aviator, had initially wanted to fly Jett himself back to Florida for emergency treatment before changing his mind and going to a local hospital.

Additional reporting by David K. Li