John Travolta described the moments before his son’s death in the Bahamas last January as he testified Wednesday against two people accused of trying to blackmail him with private information about that faithful day.

Travolta testified that he and wife Kelly Preston were awakened by a nanny at approximately 10:15 AM on Jan. 2, alerting them that Jett had fallen ill at the family’s vacation home on Grand Bahama island, just off the coast of Florida. The actor says he performed CPR on his son: “I ran downstairs with my wife to help my son.” When the couple arrived downstairs, another caretaker was doing chest compressions and he began administering breathing help. Sadly, the chronically ill 16-year-old later died of a seizure.

Travolta, 55, has kept a very low profile since Jett’s death, appearing only recently at the D23 Expo to present his upcoming film Old Dogs.

Paramedic Tarino Lightbourne and former Bahamas Senator Pleasant Bridgewater are accused of trying to extort $25 million from Travolta. Both defendants pleaded innocent to extortion charges at the trial that began Monday.