Channing Tatum FINALLY breaks silence after finalizing ‘painful’ six-year divorce battle with Jenna Dewan
Channing Tatum has opened up for the first time about the ‘painful’ end of his marriage to Jenna Dewan after finalizing their bitter six-year court battle last year.
The Magic Mike actor, 45, and his former spouse, 44, tied the knot in 2009 after meeting on the set of Step Up, but announced their separation in 2018.
Their divorce was drawn out by a lengthy legal brawl over financial details and custody of their 12-year-old daughter, Everly.
While speaking to Variety about the toll their breakup took, the Blink Twice star admitted the split was one of the hardest chapters of his life.
When asked about portraying Jeffrey Manchester, a convicted spree-robber who is estranged from his daughter, in his upcoming film, Roofman, he explained it wasn’t hard for him to tap into that rawness.
‘I know for a fact I’m able to understand it. Jenna and I are good now, but it was a painful break to have that fall apart, especially being so young,’ he said. ‘We tried to keep it together, tried for a year and a half, but we knew it was… [trails off, before stopping himself],’ Tatum began. ‘Not to go into all that. It’s in the past.’
Channing Tatum has opened up for the first time about the ‘painful’ end of his marriage to Jenna Dewan after finalizing their bitter six-year court battle last year
He explained: ‘But it’s really tough not to have your daughter half the time. I wish I could just have her all the time.’
Prior to settling their contentious divorce in September 2024, Tatum detailed the fallout of his marriage during a 2023 interview with 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,’ he admitted. ‘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.’
He added: ‘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.’
Describing their initial separation, Tatum said: ‘In the beginning, it was super scary and terrifying. 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, shit. What now?”’
But Tatum has stayed positive, and reflecting on the split he said: ‘It was probably exactly what I needed.
He continued: ‘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 next.’
The Magic Mike actor, 45, and his former spouse, 44, tied the knot in 2009 after meeting on the set of Step Up, but announced their separation in 2018; seen in 2015
While speaking to Variety about the toll their breakup took, the Blink Twice star admitted the split was one of the hardest chapters of his life (seen in 2016)
Their divorce was drawn out by a lengthy legal brawl over financial details and custody of their 12-year-old daughter, Everly; pictured in 2015
At the time, he confessed he doesn’t know if he’ll ever ‘get married again.’
‘Relationships are hard for me. Even though I am a bit of a monogamist,’ he noted. ‘In business, I have no real fear of anything being destroyed. But heart things, when it comes to people I love, I have a really hard time. I end up trying too hard, you know?’
He and Dewan announced their split in a joint social media statement in 2018, saying there were ‘no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision.’
‘Absolutely nothing has changed about how much we love one another, but love is a beautiful adventure that is taking us on different paths for now,’ the exes said in the statement.
While the pair officially became single on November 2019, their divorce proceedings stalled over Tatum’s lucrative Magic Mike deals spawned from the 2012 motion picture hit.
‘It’s really tough not to have your daughter half the time. I wish I could just have her all the time,’ he admitted
He and Dewan announced their split in a joint social media statement in 2018, saying there were ‘no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision’
The Hartford, Connecticut born actress maintained the money used during their 10-year marriage financed the Magic Mike franchise, which includes two sequels, a reality TV show on HBO called Finding Magic Mike and a live Las Vegas show.
Tatum and the film’s director, Steven Soderbergh, co-financed the project. The film was largely based on on Tatum’s own earlier experiences as stripper in Florida.
Their $7 million investment turned into a blockbuster, earning $167 million worldwide.
Celebrity attorney Samantha Spector, who represents Dewan, wrote in court documents that Tatum’s legal team ‘deprived Jenna of a fair and equal share of the community estate, and he is prejudicing her every day that this case continues.’
Spector estimated the Magic Mike business is ‘a potential billion dollar asset.’
The former couple both agreed to 50/50 custody of Everly back in February 2020
Jenna is also mom to son Callum, five, and daughter Rhiannon, one – whom she welcomed with Steve Kazee
Tatum’s attorney, Jacqueline Combs, insisted the Magic Mike franchise made most of its money after the actor and Dewan had already separated.
The actor said in court papers that he always agreed for his ex to have a slice of the Magic Mike proceeds.
‘I have never denied her share of any community assets or income,’ the 45-year old star wrote. ‘Her claims that I have “colluded with third parties” are completely false.
‘She has had complete access to all our financial records for all activities during our marriage and since separation. I continue to provide her with updates regarding Magic Mike financial matters.’
Dewan and Kazee announced their engagement in February 2020; seen last year
Meanwhile, the former couple both agreed to 50/50 custody of Everly back in February 2020.
Since the divorce, Dewan has moved on with actor Steve Kazee.
The lovebirds announced their engagement in February 2020 and have since welcomed two children.
Meanwhile, Tatum and his ex-partner Zoë Kravitz called off their engagement in October 2024. They were together for three years following his split from singer Jessie J.
