Channing Tatum Reflects on His ‘Super Scary’ Split with Jenna Dewan

Channing Tatum is getting candid about his painful split with ex-wife Jenna Dewan.

In a new Vanity Fair cover story, Tatum calls the early days of their separation “super scary.”

The couple met in 2006 on the set of “Step Up,” and wed in 2009. They welcomed daughter Everly in 2013 and then announced their split in 2018. The divorce was finalized in 2019.

"We fought for it for a really long time even though we both sort of knew that we had sort of grown apart,” Tatum said.

He continued, "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. 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” star recalled, "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, s--t. What now?'"

Now he says it was “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 next,” Channing said. “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."

Channing has since moved on, and is currently dating Zoë Kravitz. The actor, however, may not tie the knot again. He told Vanity Fair, "I don't know if I'm ever going to get married again."

Jenna has also opened up about the split in her 2019 book “Gracefully You: Finding Beauty and Balance in the Everyday.”

She wrote at the time, "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. 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."

Jenna said the pain hit her like an “avalanche,” and she was “completely overcome with fear and sadness.”