John Travolta Admits to Being a Stage Dad to Daughter Ella, 19: ‘I Am Ridiculous’

At least he’s honest! John Travolta had no problem admitting that he is quite the stage dad when it comes to his daughter, Ella.

The Oscar-nominated actor, 65, appeared on the Friday, May 24 episode of The Talk with his 19-year-old daughter, and discussed just how intense he gets when he watches Ella, also an actress, work. “I am ridiculous. I’m behind the camera mouthing every word she says, doing her moves,” John confessed. “My wife, Kelly [Preston], gets hysterical watching me watch her, because I just want it to go great.”

John and Ella costar in the new film The Poison Rose, and the Face/Off star recalled just how tough his eldest daughter had it on her first day on set.

“Poor Ella, she hadn’t acted since the [2009 film Old Dogs] with Robin [Williams], and they gave her the most complicated scene,” John explained. “Four in the morning, she had to cry, hold a gun, consider all sorts of things, and she nailed it. And the crew gave her a big applause because you wouldn’t give it to anyone to do at that time. But I said, ‘Well, she’s on her own. She’s got to deliver.’ And she did.”

However, while the Pulp Fiction costar might be a stage dad, Ella is fine with it, especially because she enjoys having her father beside her. “It actually helped so much knowing that he was there,” she said on the CBS program. “… He would come up in between scenes … and then I would know that I had him behind the monitor, just watching, making sure it was good.”

John is quite closer to his only daughter — he recently made it his duty to personally welcome Ella to Instagram, one year after she encouraged her parents to join themselves. Aside from Ella, John and his wife, 56, share Benjamin, 8, as well as their late son, Jett.

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It is so great to hear how much John wants Ella to do well in Hollywood, especially because he knows firsthand what a tough industry it is.