Channing Tatum has opened up about why him and ex Jenna Dewan broke up after 9 years of marriage, and the reasoning is heart-wrenching.
The actor, 43, was candid in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, telling the outlet that him and Jenna had actually “fought for [the relationship] for a really long time, even though we both sort of knew that we had sort of grown apart.” However, Channing said that though the circumstances of the divorce was heartbreaking, the difficult separation has led him to become “best friends” with their daughter Everly, now 9.
Channing Tatum And Jenna Dewan's Magical Step Up Romance
Jenna Dewan and Channing Tatum were known for their magical, opposites-attract romance, which began on the set of their film Step Up, in which the actors portrayed a fictional bad-boy-meets-privileged-girl romance. The pair bonded during the filming of the teen romantic dance drama, beginning to date soon after filming wrapped in 2005. At the time, Channing told People of Jenna, "she's so incredibly sweet."
The couple dated for 3 years until Channing popped the question during an elaborate proposal in Maui, where sources dished that he invited a number of the pair's close friends to surprise Jenna during the monumental moment. In front of their loved ones, Channing asked Jenna to marry him, which they did in 2009 back in Malibu, California. The couple's daughter Everly would be born in May 2013, and the youngster would be 5 years old when her parents announced their separation in 2018.
Difficult Divorce Lead To Self-Improvement, Channing Confesses
The couple's decision to split after a longtime relationship in the spotlight wasn't an easy call to make, Channing disclosed to Vanity Fair. "We fought for it for a really long time, even though we both sort of knew that we had sort of grown apart. I think we told ourselves a story when we were young [about our opposites-attract romance begun while filming Step Up], and we just kept telling ourselves that story, no matter how blatantly life was telling us that we were so different...But when you’re actually parents, you really understand differences between the two of you. Because it is screaming at you all day long. How you parent differently, how you look at the world, how you go through the world."
Despite the difficulty in choosing to divorce while co-parenting a young child, Channing also said that the tough time helped him eventually become closer to his daughter. "In the beginning, it was super scary and terrifying. Your life just turns on its axis," the Magic Mike star confessed. "This whole plan that you had literally just turns into sand and goes through your fingers and you’re just like, 'Oh, shit. What now?'" However, Channing mused, "It was probably exactly what I needed. I don’t think I would’ve ever done the work, I think, on myself in the way that I had to do the work on myself to really try to figure out what’s next. And really, it just started with my daughter. I just dropped everything and just focused on her. And it was truly the best possible thing that I ever could have done. Because in the alone time that I have with just me and her, we’ve become best friends."
Since the split, Jenna became engaged to Tony-winning actor Steve Kazee after a year and a half of dating, eventually welcoming child Callum Kazee to the world in March of 2020. Channing is now dating actress Zoë Kravitz, who he met on the set of their thriller P---- Island in 2021.
