All about Jet, Ella and Benjamin

For John Travolta, being a father is the greatest privilege in his life.

The actor is the father of three children with his late wife, actress Kelly Preston. Preston passed away in 2020 after a two-year battle with breast cancer. She was 57 years old.

The couple welcomed their first child, son Jett, in April 1992. John was instantly smitten and told people about his newfound love of being a father. “After he was born and cleaned up, I held him for hours while Kelly slept,” he said at the time.

A few years later, in April 2000, John and Kelly gave birth to their second child, a daughter, Ella Blue. Although Jett was born in a hospital, the actress gave birth to Ella at home in Los Angeles, which Kelly previously described as an “incredibly beautiful” experience.

In January 2009, Travoltas and his wife suffered tragedy when their eldest son, Jett, died at the age of 16 while on vacation with his family. In the years since, John has often paid tribute to his late son, celebrating his life with heartfelt throwback photos and kind messages.

John and Kelly welcomed their third child, son Benjamin, in 2010. “He gave the house a new spirit and purpose,” the Saturday Night Fever star told People about the little “miracle” when he was born.

On New Year’s Day 2025, John posted a photo of Benjamin and Ella standing in the snow on Instagram and wrote, “Happy New Year from the Travolta family.”

Here’s everything you need to know about John’s three children.

jet

John and Kelly welcomed their first child, son Jett, on April 13, 1992. As soon as John was born, the actor told People how much he loved being a father. “I can’t imagine what life would be like without Jet,” he said in 1994.

She added: “After he was born and cleaned up, I held him for hours while Kelly slept. When they came to take him in for various tests, I said, ‘No, I can’t see him today. I’ll have to see him another day.’ It kind of went crazy.”

Sadly, Jett passed away in January 2009 while vacationing with his family in the Bahamas. The 16-year-old boy suffered a seizure and hit his head in the bathtub at his family’s vacation home at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island.

John and his wife rarely spoke publicly about Jett, but Kelly opened up in an interview after Jett’s death. “[Jett]was autistic. He had seizures and had Kawasaki syndrome when he was younger,” she said on The Doctors in November 2012.

In 2022, John paid tribute to Jett with a throwback photo on what would have been his 30th birthday. “Dear Jetty, I miss you more than words can express. I think about you every day. Happy birthday. I love you, your dad,” he wrote in the caption.

Ella Blue, 25 years old

John and Kelly welcomed their second child, daughter Ella Blue, on April 3, 2000. Like her parents, Ella also has a talent for acting. For years, John has smiled and talked about his daughter’s successes and touted himself as a “very proud father.”

Before starring in her own films, Ella has had several roles in her father’s films, including 2009’s Old Dogs and 2019’s Poison Rose. In 2021, she landed her first lead role in Get Lost, a modern-day retelling of the classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland story.

Apart from being an actress, she is also pursuing a music career. Ella released her first single, “Dizzy,” in January, and to celebrate, she shared a sweet video featuring her supportive father.

“She is who she is. She is polite, generous, poised, graceful and gorgeous. I don’t know how she came about, but I don’t think of her as any accomplishment other than just adore her,” John told PEOPLE of Ella in 2019. “And perhaps that’s a legitimate contribution.”

These days, Ella continues to establish herself as a multi-hyphenate after debuting at New York Fashion Week. John praised his daughter when she appeared in Karl Lagerfeld’s Karla Loves Curl capsule collection runway show in September.

In her spare time, Ella enjoys baking. She recreated the coconut bundt cake that Tom Cruise famously gives to his friends during the holidays, and her dad loved it, calling it “delicious” in an Instagram video.

In October 2024, Ella told PEOPLE that John first heard the music she was writing that was to be included on her debut EP, Colors of Love, and he encouraged her to finish them.

“So I was like, ‘Okay, then I’ll do that.’ So I just started finishing the song,” she said. “It was just a gradient of how everything was going to happen. But that was definitely a big part of why I wanted to take it more seriously. Just my dad.”

Benjamin, 15 years old

John and Kelly welcomed their third child, son Benjamin, on November 23, 2010. Unlike his sister and parents, Ben has not shown any interest in acting or music, but rather has his own unique talents.

The youngest Travolta is into parkour. It’s a great hobby that this preteen recently took up. In April, John shared his son’s new interest by posting a video on Instagram showing off his skills at an indoor adventure gym.

In this clip, Ben uses monkey bars to jump between a series of objects. At one point in the video, he took a quick touch back into the wall before heading to another platform. John continued to post his support for Ben, saying he was “so proud” of him.

John and Ben have a very strong bond. In August, the Saturday Night Fever actor revealed that Ben was scared of losing his father after Preston’s death, and spoke about the emotional conversation he had with his son.

“I said, ‘But, Ben…I’m going to tell the truth about life because you always love the truth. You never know when they’re going to leave or when they’re going to stay.'” John recalled telling his son.

He continued, “Your brother (Jett) left at 16, too young. Your mother left at 57. That was too young. But who’s to say? I could die tomorrow. You could die too. Anyone could die.” “So let’s just look at it like it’s part of life. We don’t know exactly. We just try our best to live as long as possible.”

In July 2023, John shared an Instagram reel of his family trip to Japan. The footage shows John and his son riding in a helicopter, walking together through the forest and feeding monkeys.

Later that year, John, Ben, and Ella spent Christmas at a ski resort.