‘I cried like a baby’ during emotional family milestone with daughter Ella

For John Travolta, this year’s Cannes Film Festival was far more than just another glamorous red carpet appearance.

The Hollywood icon experienced an emotional full-circle moment as he returned to Cannes with his daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, more than three decades after he first attended the festival alongside his late wife, Kelly Preston.

The father-daughter duo premiered their new film, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, on Friday night, with the deeply personal project marking John’s directorial debut. But the evening became even more unforgettable when the 72-year-old star was surprised with an honorary Palme d’Or, Cannes’ highest honour. “There’s such a long history of us at Cannes,” John told People.

For Ella, 26, the experience was equally emotional. “I knew it was just such a special night for my whole family that I sort of made sure to put myself in the moment and really take it all in,” she explained. “And it felt very calm, actually, and very just beautiful and very emotional.”

The moment carried even deeper meaning because Cannes played such an important role in John and Kelly’s love story and career journey together.

Back in 1994, the couple attended the festival for the premiere of Pulp Fiction, the film widely credited with revitalising John’s career and cementing Quentin Tarantino as one of Hollywood’s most influential directors.

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“The birth of it having significance would have been Pulp Fiction before Ella was born,” John shared. “So, it would have been very significant for Kelly and I because we saw Pulp Fiction for the first time at Cannes, and we won the Palme d’Or.”

Kelly tragically died in 2020 following a private battle with breast cancer. John and Kelly also shared son Jett, who died in 2009 aged 16, and their youngest son Benjamin, now 15.

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The Grease legend became visibly emotional when Cannes festival head Thierry Frémaux surprised him with the honorary Palme d’Or during the screening.

“I can’t believe this. This is the last thing I expected,” John said while accepting the honour. “You said this would be a special night, but I didn’t think you meant this. This is a humbling moment. This is beyond the Oscar.”

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The actor later revealed he had already been emotional simply learning that his film had been accepted into competition. “When Thierry said it was making history because it would be the first film being accepted that early, I cried like a baby,” he admitted.

The new film also marks a major milestone for Ella, who stars in the movie as a flight attendant. Inspired by John’s lifelong passion for aviation, Propeller One-Way Night Coach is adapted from a book he originally published in 1997 and represents his first project as a director.

For John, sharing the Cannes experience with Ella created what he described as a beautiful bridge between past and present. “Jump to now, with Ella starring in Propeller One-Way Night Coach, and my winning the Palme d’Or, there’s this beautiful, glorified connection that’s like the pillars between Pulp that won and Propeller,” he explained. “That it makes this gorgeous framework. So yes, it feels significant.”