Channing Tatum Says Jenna Dewan Breakup Was ‘Painful’

Channing Tatum is offering rare insight into his “painful” breakup with ex-wife Jenna Dewan.

In a new Variety cover story published Tuesday, Sept. 2, the actor discussed his latest film, Roofman, and its true story. At one point, Tatum, 45, was asked about playing a character who misses his daughter, reflecting on his split from Dewan, 44, and co-parenting their 12-year-old daughter Everly.

“I know for a fact I’m able to understand it,” he said. “Jenna and I are good now, but it was a painful break to have that fall apart, especially being so young. We tried to keep it together, tried for a year and a half, but we knew it was.… Not to go into all that. It’s in the past. But it’s really tough not to have your daughter half the time. I wish I could just have her all the time.”  

Tatum and Dewan met as costars on the 2006 film Step Up, and they got engaged two years later. They got married in Malibu, Calif. in 2009, but in 2018 they separated. Dewan officially filed for divorce in October 2018, and it was settled six years later in September 2024.

“I’ve lived six or seven different lives,” Tatum told Variety. “Life gives you fuel. If you’ve really been heartbroken, and really been in pain and felt real, true aloneness … I’ve experienced enough life that I have something to offer. The technique and the ability to actually deliver.”  

In Roofman, Tatum plays Jeffrey Manchester, a “former Army Ranger and struggling father who turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname Roofman,” according to a synopsis.

“After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside a Toys ‘R’ Us for six months, surviving undetected while planning his next move,” the logline teases. “But when he falls for Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), a divorced mom drawn to his undeniable charm, his double life begins to unravel, setting off a compelling and suspenseful game of cat and mouse as his past closes in.”

In January 2025, Dewan opened up about her newfound “strength” after finalizing her divorce from Tatum. She and fiancé Steve Kazee announced their engagement in February 2020, and they share two kids: Callum, 5, and Rhiannon, 14 months.

“This past year I learned that life has a way of bringing you exactly what you need to learn at exactly the right time,” Dewan wrote in an InStyle essay at the time, adding, “The transitions weren’t just changes; they were invitations to grow, to lean into the discomfort and discover the strength I didn’t know I had.”

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Though she didn’t mention Tatum by name or their divorce in the essay, Dewan added that she “learned a lot about myself, my resilience and my voice” in 2024: “Fresh starts, I’ve realized, don’t wait for calendars or big proclamations. They happen in the quiet choices: forgiving yourself, showing up again, trusting the process even when it feels hopeless.”

Roofman will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival before hitting theaters Oct. 10.