Ella Travolta honors late mom Kelly Preston in new song, shares old home videos
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in Hollywood, and Ella Bleu Travolta is no different.
The only daughter of John Travolta and Kelly Preston is remembering her late mother in the music video for "Little Bird," a song dedicated to Preston on her upcoming EP "Colors of Love."
"I definitely felt (Preston) watching over me," Ella Travolta, 24, told People magazine in an interview that published Friday. "I knew that she was really proud of this whole process and of me."
In her latest track, Travolta said she tuned out any outside noise and focused on her memories to process her grief.
"I grew up very much so in the public eye. And with that comes a lot of attention, especially when you lose someone," she said. "There's definitely the natural support and global support that comes with that."
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She continued: "But then there can be a natural input and expectation of how you should feel or how people assume that you feel or how other people feel, that gets added in."
The meaning behind 'Little Bird'
Travolta told the outlet the song is "about holding on to those pure relationships that you have with people that you lost and really just listening to yourself and staying true to that relationship with that person," adding that "it's sort of the viewpoint of a mama bird talking to a baby bird."
She revealed the inspiration behind the bird imagery, explaining her mom saw birds as those she had lost making their presence known. While recording her EP, Travolta also started noticing birds.
"It had been a couple years, obviously, since my mom's passing, so I could look at the whole situation and take a step back from it and see what I wanted to communicate on it and what I wanted to communicate to her," Travolta said.
"I really wanted it to also be a celebration of life," she explained.
Watch the 'Little Bird' music video
The "Little Bird" music video features vignettes — a "big compilation of some of my favorite memories" — captured in Travolta's home videos with Preston.
"I think that's so important, even when you lose someone, for it to be a celebration of their life (because) you got the chance to be with that person for as long as you did and you got to have these memories," she said to People.
When Preston died at 57 in 2020 following a battle with breast cancer, John Travolta penned a sentimental Instagram post confirming his wife of 28 years had died.
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"She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many," he wrote. "Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered. 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 and Preston also had two sons: Ben, 13, and Jett, who died at age 16 in January 2009 after having a seizure while the family was on vacation in the Bahamas.
"My parents are such a huge inspiration for a lot of things and how I lead my life," Ella Travolta told People.