Ella Bleu Travolta, daughter of John Travolta and the late Kelly Preston, grew up surrounded by creativity, family love, and the unique rhythm of life in the public eye. Born on April 3, 2000, her arrival was a cherished moment her mother once described with deep sentiment, recalling how she and John welcomed Ella together. As a child, Ella became a devoted sister—first to her older brother Jett and later to Benjamin, whose birth filled their family with renewed joy. Even as a young girl, she gravitated toward performance, staging her own shows at home and eventually stepping into film alongside her parents. As she grew, she expanded her artistic reach, adding modeling and music to her creative path and slowly shaping a career defined by authenticity rather than expectation.
Her journey into a plant-based lifestyle began in 2022, sparked by a simple two-week challenge suggested by a friend. What started as an experiment quickly became a meaningful shift. Ella soon discovered how much more energized and balanced she felt, and her curiosity led her to learn more about the environmental benefits of reducing animal products. Through documentaries, research, and personal experience, she adopted a vegan lifestyle rooted in compassion, sustainability, and well-being. Still, she approaches the topic with openness rather than pressure, sharing her benefits without insisting others follow her lead. Her gentle encouragement reflects her philosophy: meaningful change grows through inspiration, not force.
Ella’s love for plant-based cooking has become one of her favorite ways to express creativity. She enjoys simple, energizing breakfasts like peanut-butter toast with agave and pumpkin-spice seasoning, and she often experiments with vegan baking, creating banana bread and a plant-based version of Tom Cruise’s well-known coconut bundt cake—a treat her father eagerly approves of. In 2023, she created her Instagram page @ellableubakes to share recipes, spotlight plant-based cafés, and celebrate the joy of food. Whether she’s sipping her morning matcha or exploring menus at her favorite restaurant, PLANTA, Ella’s approach to food is playful, inclusive, and welcoming.
Life has brought both triumph and challenge, and Ella’s grace in navigating public life reflects a quiet strength. Growing up in Hollywood meant facing criticism at a young age, especially around appearance, but her wellness journey appears to have supported a growing sense of confidence and balance. After losing her mother to breast cancer in 2020, Ella and John strengthened their already close bond. Together, they travel, attend events, and continue honoring Kelly’s legacy while pursuing their shared love of storytelling and creativity. Today, Ella’s plant-based lifestyle represents more than just food choices—it reflects a purposeful way of living that aligns health, ethics, and environmental care. Through her recipes, positivity, and gentle advocacy, she invites others to explore plant-based eating at their own pace, offering not rules, but possibilities for a kinder, healthier world.
**A Long Story**
Mariela Flores had always been “the big girl.”
Big-hearted, big-voiced, big-bodied — and, as her grandmother used to say, “big enough to hold the whole world without cracking.”
It was her favorite compliment, though it hadn’t always felt like one.
Mariela lived in the small coastal city of Estrella Brava, where the ocean was always loud and the gossip louder. She worked as a tailor from her home studio, stitching dresses for quinceañeras, suits for nervous grooms, and sometimes repairing old jackets that smelled like nostalgia and dust. People admired her work, even if they didn’t always understand the woman behind it.
She loved her craft fiercely. It came from her mother, who used to sew late into the night while Mariela sat beside her, pretending to do homework but really watching the magical way thread tamed fabric.
But when her mother died suddenly, sewing became both a comfort and a responsibility—Mariela inherited her clients, her patterns, her tools, and the little dream her mother never quite managed to chase:
**competing in the annual Estrella Brava Fashion Gala.**
This year, Mariela decided it was time.
### **The Dream**
Her plan was simple:
Create a dress that felt like a story. A dress that could breathe. A dress that didn’t hide curves but celebrated them — because Mariela was tired of pretending bodies needed disguises.
She wanted to make a gown for someone shaped like her.
She wanted to make a gown for **herself**.
But dreams have weight, and while Mariela was strong, she was not invincible.
### **The Conflict**
Estrella Brava wasn’t cruel, but it had expectations.
“You’re entering the gala?” her neighbor Señora Tascón asked. “But who will model the dress?”
Mariela smiled politely.
“I will.”
There was a pause. A heavy one.
“Oh. Well.” A forced smile. “How brave!”
The word stung more than it should have. Brave. As if simply existing in her body in public was an act of heroism.
But Mariela kept sewing.
And dreaming.
And doubting.
Nights were hardest. She’d sit in front of the mirror, trying on the half-finished gown, whispering every insult she had heard about her body until her vision blurred. Then she’d whisper her grandmother’s words instead.
“**You hold the whole world without cracking.**”
### **The Turning Point**
One afternoon, a frantic knock came at her door.
It was Camila, her 16-year-old intern — a quiet girl who’d started working with Mariela after school.
“Miss Mariela,” she said breathlessly, “you need to go online. Right now.”
Mariela didn’t like the sound of that. But she opened her laptop.
A post.
A photo.
A badly lit snapshot someone had taken of her walking home with fabric rolls under her arm.
**“The Whale Tailor thinks she can be a model now 😂”**
Hundreds of comments.
Laughing emojis.
People she knew.
Her heart dropped to her stomach.
Camila clenched her fists.
“They’re idiots,” she said. “Don’t let them win.”
But Mariela felt cracked for the first time.
### **The Rebuild**
She considered withdrawing from the gala. She even wrote the email.
But she didn’t send it.
The next morning, she walked into her studio and found Camila pinning a note to the dress form.
**“Bodies don’t exist to be small. Dreams don’t either.”**
Something inside Mariela ignited.
Not anger — determination.
If people were going to look, she’d give them something worth staring at.
### **The Gala**
The night of the gala, the auditorium buzzed with energy. Designers, critics, photographers — everyone dressed in shades of ambition.
Mariela stepped backstage in her finished gown:
A deep emerald green dress that wrapped her curves like the ocean wraps a stubborn rock — not hiding, not softening, but honoring.
As she stepped onto the runway, silence fell.
Real, heavy silence.
She walked with slow, confident steps.
Her chin high.
Her dress shimmering under the lights.
She didn’t need to be thin to be powerful.
She didn’t need permission to exist beautifully.
Her presence was its own masterpiece.
Halfway down the runway, she saw Camila cheering wildly, tears in her eyes.
At the end, she paused — and smiled.
Not bravely.
Not defiantly.
Just freely.
### **The Aftermath**
She didn’t win first place.
She didn’t need to.
Her collection was requested by two boutiques.
A magazine wrote an article titled:
**“The Designer Who Stole the Spotlight Without Shrinking Herself.”**
And girls from all around Estrella Brava wrote to her asking if she could design dresses for them — dresses that fit their real bodies, not the ones they were told to wish for.
Mariela finally understood:
She didn’t carry the weight of the world because she was strong.
She carried it because she was *meant* to reshape it.
And she did.
One stitch, one curve, one fearless step at a time.