John Travolta on Ella's talent and his family's night life

John Travolta escorted his daughter Ella, 7, to the Hairspray premiere last night and tells Jay Leno on The Tonight Show he did so to prepare her for her own walk down the red carpet in the future. The aspiring actress will star in Old Dogs with her dad and mom, Kelly Preston, scheduled for release next year.

She’s in the next movie with us and I decided to expose her a little bit to the press and to the fans and it all went really well. She was good. She did about half of it and then she got tired of it.

Always a big supporter his daughter’s acting dreams, John says Ella is a gifted "natural," who’s inherited her mother’s looks and his singing and dancing skills. Her screen test for the film only confirmed that.

She’squite terrific. We just saw her screen test. She already got the job and she auditioned after the fact. They were relieved thatshe was so good and I was relieved too to be honest. She’s fabulous. She looked like Brigitte Bardot at 7.

The notorious night owl also addresses his family’s unorthodox nocturnal lifestyle, recalling everyone’s bedtime from the night prior, which he dubbed a "light night."

The missus went to bed at about 2 a.m. and the little girl went to bed at about 2 a.m. And my son [Jett, 15] and I went out to a deli at 3 a.m. He had matzo ball soup and I went to bed at about 5.

Comments

Very interesting family….they seem a little out of touch with reality. He talks like going out to get “matzo ball soup” at 3 am is a completely normal thing to do….Um, maybe if you’re a freshman in college and overly excited about your newfound freedom, but NOT for a “mature” father of two.

- Candace on July 12th, 2007

Ella Ella thats all he fuckin talks about, people want to know about Jett. Greedy is the word for both John and Kelly.Jett exsist to forget about about Ella for a moment and lets focus on Jett.

- Joslyn on July 12th, 2007

Oh I am so over John Travolta.

He seems to be putting an enormous amount of pressure on Ella. A young Bridget Bardot? She is seven and while I understand that she may very well be interested in acting, from John’s recent comments about her acting ability he seems like the ultimate stage father. Let her be a kid a little John and if she wants to act, fine, but don’t build her up to be something she may or may not be.

On another note, again another interview with seemingly only a passing mention of Jett. I would hope that they privately accept his condition and he receives treatment but given that his parents religion doesn’t seem to allow it, I have my doubts.

As far as their family routine, it is, in my opinion, just not healthy for a child to maintain those sort of hours on a regular basis. Certainly, I have to assume that they are home schooled? A child in the school system could not maintain those sort of hours surely?

- Bella on July 12th, 2007

They are home schooled though I do remember seeing photos of Kelly picking Ella up from a pre-school several years ago.

Hmmm…you’ve got to wonder if those kids think the world revolves around them…

- WOW on July 12th, 2007

wow the do have a lot of expectations for Ella! As a mother of 5 I couldn’t I think of favoring one more then the other.

- Kristin on July 12th, 2007

Lol @ Candance. Right on. It’s weird how they stay up all night and sleep all day. I assume the kids are home-schooled then?

- Aura on July 12th, 2007

Eh 2am for a 7 year old is totally unaccaptable. Shouldn’t their regular bedtime be something like 21:00 latest?

- Sophie on July 12th, 2007

Most autisticS (capital S to conote BOTH kids and adults) DO NOT SLEEP AT NIGHT! They are up all night, jumping around and playing. That is PROBABLY why John Travolta says they lead a “Nocturnal Life”. Because they kinda have to…

- preesi on July 12th, 2007

I just love Ella Bleu’s name!

- MZ on July 12th, 2007

Who is Bridget Bardot? Or does he mean Brigitte Bardot???

- pink.lioness on July 12th, 2007

I seriously dislike the Travoltas with a passion. I won’t even watch a movie if I know that either one of them are involved in it in some way. I really worry about their kids well being. I think out in the real world, their parenting decisions would be questioned by the appropriate people.
John needs to come to grips with the fact he is gay – everyone else in Hollywood is aware of this fact, including his “beard”, Kelly.

- Ween on July 12th, 2007

totally agree. 2am is slightly late. i would not let my child of 7 go to bed later than 9 o clock becuase little girls and boys need their sleep, that is probably why she has gained a bit of weight as lack of sleep is bad for the metabolism but i really think that little ella is beautiful and if she is talented then we will see but it does mention that she had an audition and a screen test so she must be relatively good to get the part …… or perhaps she got it because daddy is john travolta ……..????

- jenni on July 12th, 2007

What was wrong with my POST?

- preesi on July 12th, 2007

In response to WOW, I have a feeling that they do, at least in Ella’s eyes. I remember a few years back when she was maybe 4 or 5, she had her OWN limo take her someplace because she said that she did not want to drive in the same limo as her mom and dad. (John or Kelly had told this story)And also, the family was once forced to fly on a commercial flight and Ella looked around at the other passengers and asked her mom who all the other people were. She was only used to flying in her family’s big private plane. (Again, her mom or dad had told this story. Although I do not know why you would brag about your child leading such a secluded priveleged life)Both of these things happened quite awhile ago so don’t quote me on anything!!

- angelbaby33 on July 12th, 2007

Its just not true that autism in any way relates to a nocturnal lifestyle. Some autistic children and adults have sleep problems….just like many non-autistic children and adults. But, difficulty sleeping is not a symptom of autism nor is it used in diagnosis.

John Travolta has talked repeatedly about the fact that his mother was a stage actress and he and his father would wait up for her until early in the morning. He says that his family’s nocturnal lifestyle is a product of his own upbringing.

- annie on July 12th, 2007

why don’t they just admit to jett’s autism? i know – the whole scientology issue – but really… they take ella everywhere – but jett is always left at home. are they embarrassed? it makes me angry…

- meghan on July 12th, 2007

On a sidenote, it is (usually) a lot easier to take younger autistic children to events than older ones – if they get scared and react thusly, it’s harder to calm them down, because they’re the size of you. Perhaps that is why we don’t see Jett much, not because he isn’t loved or understood, but out of a parents’ need to not cause their child unnecessary trauma. Some autistic children don’t mind crowds but many – especially given how secluded the Travolta’s are in general – can’t handle all the commotion at once. As for why he’s not talked about, maybe they just don’t want to make him into a poster child.

I hope a 4am bedtime isn’t the result of giving Jett no routine to follow. I don’t know, I’m no Travolta fan, but there are two sides to every story, you know?

- aidan on July 12th, 2007

I’m sorry, but I’ll never cut John Travolta a break anymore. We go to a deli at 3 a.m. That’s his line. What I hear is, “no one will see him at 3 a.m.”

- J. on July 12th, 2007

At one time I thought John Travolta and Kelly Preston were pretty level-headed. But something is not right (you know when you get that feeling about someone?).

There has been a lot of talk from John about his daughter but his son is rarely mentioned. And the son is older.

Maybe they should slow down a bit to allow their children some normalcy? Including reasonable bedtimes for children.

- nic on July 12th, 2007

Well they wouldn’t be going to school since it’s the middle of summer. And some kids, just like adults, are night people.

- terri on July 12th, 2007

“Its just not true that autism in any way relates to a nocturnal lifestyle. Some autistic children and adults have sleep problems….just like many non-autistic children and adults. But, difficulty sleeping is not a symptom of autism nor is it used in diagnosis.”

Actually Annie my son is the ONLY autistic child out of all his sports buddies and school mates that actually sleeps thru the night. I have yet to meet one autistic child from my sons peer group that sleeps thru the night. They are all up til 3-4-5-6 in the morning. It drives the family apart. I actually never brag to their parents that my son sleeps thru the night from day one cause I dont want them to hate me…
Annie please research before you say erroneous things that arent true!
Read this:
http://www.angelfire.com/tn3/task/sleep.html

- preesi on July 12th, 2007

I still like John Travolta. As an actor he’s phenomenol and sometimes religions can brainwash you and it seems as though this could be the case for this family. If true, there’s nothing anyone can do. They’ll raise Ella and Jett the way they choose.

I just hope that the kids don’t grow up with resentment towards them for how they’re allowing them to just live whatever sort of life they want to.

I think Ella will be a great actress because her parents are. But I just feel as though that Jett gets pushed to the side bc he’s not normal like his sister. I think Jett should be placed in a film (but according to them he’s not interested). I think it’s more or less they’re hiding what they don’t want to admit to.

- J.M. on July 12th, 2007

What I don’t understand is the sense of entitlement that people here feel about demanding the information about what is going on with John Travolta’s son. Regardless of his religion, this is a private matter, and if nothing else he is protecting his son’s privacy by not using the situation as a way to gain public sympathy and attention.

Autistic people can be very sensitive depending on how severely they are effected and it would be cruel to subject Jett, if he is autistic, to certain situations, including being out in public where there is a lot of media and paparazzi all over the place.

I’m no fan of Travolta’s religion but I think it is wrong to force shame upon him over something he has chosen to not talk about. We don’t know why he has kept that private, whether it is shame or to protect his son or a mixture, and for all we know he is doing it for the most honorable of reasons.

The kids are homeschooled, it doesn’t matter what time they get to bed so long as they get enough sleep each night. Geez. Lets start worrying about our own families before judging Travoltas. He loves his family & there’s nothing wrong with that…

- Sarah on July 12th, 2007

really tired of people bad mouthing John AND Kelly
they have two awesome kids
and they are doing what a parent does looking after there childrens best intrest
who cares what time they go to bed so long as they get 8 hours of sleep and are homeschooled they love both those children who gives you the right to say that they favor one over the other you do not live in that home or are you monotering them too?
enough with Jett’s condition
another thing what do you know about wether or not he gets treatment they probably do it in secret because of nosy people like you always up in there buisness
take care of your self first then point a finger
you know that old saying “point one finger get three pointed back at you”
let it go ALREADY

- rebekah on December 3rd, 2008