The Story of John Travolta Who Put His Hollywood Career on Hold to Take Care of His Children Alone
John Travolta became popular in the mid-70s thanks to a role in the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. But after 2019, his fans lost sight of him. The thing is, he decided to pause his career and spend more time with his children.
We at CHEERY have watched films with John Travolta many times. And now, it turns out that he’s not only a talented actor but also an exemplary family man and caring father.
At the age of 17, Travolta dropped out of school to be able to act on stage. He joined a group of actors that was performing in a youth musical. Later, the young actor was noticed in Hollywood. His role in Saturday Night Fever brought 24-year-old Travolta an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He was nominated for the same award again after Pulp Fiction, where he did the legendary dance with Uma Thurman.
The actor has proven multiple times that he can transform himself into characters of any age or gender. A great example of that was his role in Hairspray where he portrayed the shy mother of the main character.
In 1985, John Travolta was invited to a gala dinner at the White House. During that evening, he danced with Princess Diana to the music from Saturday Night Fever. The Princess was wearing an off-the-shoulder midnight blue velvet evening gown. The dress was later called the “Travolta dress”. It’s exhibited in Kensington Palace.
Together with career success, Travolta found family happiness. In 1988, during his work on The Experts, he met actress Kelly Preston who became his wife several years later. They got married in Paris and then started living in Ocala, Florida.
In 1992, the couple had their first child, Jett. The boy was terminally ill and died at the age of 16. In memory of Jett, Travolta created the Jett Travolta Foundation, a nonprofit organization to help children with special needs.
Their second child was Ella Bleu. The girl pursued the same career as her parents and played her first role in a movie at the age of 9. She was in Old Dogs together with her father and Robin Williams.
In 2019, Ella appeared in a film with her father again. She was Becky Hunt in a noir detective called The Poison Rose.
During this work, Travolta was sincerely worried about his daughter and later said in an interview, that when he was off-screen, he repeated her every line and copied her every movement. Kelly Preston was calmer about Ella’s work in movies and laughed a little at her impressionable husband.
In 2010, the couple had another son, Benjamin. At the time, Kelly was 48 years old. The news about the pregnancy took them aback: the actress said that she and her husband couldn’t stop crying. And John said that the new child helped them deal with their big loss — it was only 1 year after they had lost their eldest son.
In July 2020, the family had another big loss. Kelly Preston’s health deteriorated and she passed away. She was only 57 years old, 29 of which she had been married to John.
After that, on his Instagram account, Travolta said that he was putting his career on hold. He said, “I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while.”
John Travolta kept his word: not a single film featuring him was released from 2020 to 2022. He devoted his free time to his kids.
The actor has said multiple times that he’s proud of his daughter, and he doesn’t think that her success in the movie industry is his merit.
And also, John spends a lot of time with Ben. He’s interested in gymnastics, he plays tennis, loves fishing, and like many modern children, enjoys video games.
In Spring 2022, Travolta posted a short video that makes it clear that 11-year-old Benjamin has found another interest — parkour. The fans left a lot of positive comments under this video and even compared the boy to Spider-Man.
John often posts photos and videos with his son on his Instagram page — walking on the seaside, going to the zoo, and recording TikTok dances together.
Fun fact: John Travolta is a private pilot, and you can sometimes see him piloting his private jet, named after his children — “Jett Clipper Ella”.
The children sincerely love John, and Ella never forgets to congratulate him on Father’s Day. She once wrote, “Daddy, you make parenting look so easy, though it not always is. You make every day better than the one before it. You bring joy to us when we are down. You are our best friend and we love you to the moon and back around. I hope to be even half as good of a parent as you someday.”
The actor loves sharing parenting secrets with his fans. He thinks that we should always listen to our kids and remember to take their rights and interests into account. And sometimes, children can even give us good advice.
He says, “I find when you consult them, they can come up with much better ideas than yours.”
And of course, he keeps saying to them how important they are, “It’s a privilege to be a father. I love you, my babies.”
It seems that the pause in Travolta’s career is coming to an end. In 2023, the thriller American Metal is going to be released featuring the actor, and he’s finishing his work in Paradise City, where he has one of the lead roles.
What is more important for you: your family or your job? Would you be able to stop doing what you like for your children?