Nearly five years after Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan first announced their split, the Magic Mike star is reflecting on why their breakup felt “super scary” at the time.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Tatum expressed that despite knowing they had grown apart, he and Dewan had “fought for it for a really long time.” They married in 2009 but announced their separation in 2018 and were officially divorced the following year.
“I think we told ourselves a story when we were young, and we just kept telling ourselves that story, no matter how blatantly life was telling us that we were so different,” Tatum said. “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.”
The Magic Mike actor said that navigating this new chapter wasn’t easy. “In the beginning, it was super scary and terrifying,” he said as he described the early days following his and Dewan’s separation. “Your life just turns on its axis. This whole plan that you had literally just turns into sand and goes through your fingers, and you’re just like, ‘Oh, s–t. What now?'”
“In the beginning of my separation, it felt as though I were in a dark closet, desperately trying to find the light or the way out,” Dewan, 42, wrote. “I was in a state of shock. One week I’d be doing really well and the next I was slammed with a whole new slew of emotions. The rumor mill was churning out story after story. There were many times I hid under the covers, wondering what was next.”
She continued, “The pain hit me like a tumbling avalanche. I was completely overcome with fear and sadness. It took many moments of sitting alone with my grief to force me into surrendering to my roller coaster of a situation.”
Today, both are doing better than ever. While Channing is now dating Zoë Kravitz, Jenna has found happiness with fiancé Steve Kazee and is raising her 2-year-old son Callum with him. However, when asked about marriage again, Tatum replied, “I don’t know if I’m ever going to get married again.”
