Channing Tatum admits his divorce from Jenna Dewan was ‘scary and terrifying’

Divorce is never, ever easy. Even the most amicable of separations can be emotionally and mentally taxing. And now for the first time, Channing Tatum is opening up about his 2019 divorce from Jenna Dewan.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the “Magic Mike” star talks about how he met Dewan on the 2006 set of “Step It Up” (as any millennial worth their salt would immediately know) and stayed together until announcing their separation in 2018. They welcomed a daughter, Everly, in 2013.

Related: Proud girl dad Channing Tatum shares sweet message to his daughter

“We fought for it for a really long time, even though we both sort of knew that we had sort of grown apart,” he said. “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 opened up about how being a parent with your spouse and knowing you need to end your marriage is an incredibly difficult thing to embark on.

“But when you’re actually parents. you really understand differences between the two of you,” he explained. “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.”

He says the initial anxiety and fear he felt immediately following the initial separation was overwhelming—something many separated and divorced parents can likely relate to.

Related: Channing Tatum debuts colorful makeover, courtesy of his 7-year-old daughter

“In the beginning, it was super scary and terrifying. Your life just turns on its axis,” Tatum admitted. “This whole plan that you had literally just turns into sand and goes through your fingers and you’re just like, ‘Oh, s***. What now?’”

He opened up about how the whole experience, through the last few years, have really solidified his bond with Everly. His relationship with her inspired him to write his own children’s books: “The One and Only Sparkella” and “The One and Only Sparkella Makes a Plan.”

“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. And really, it just started with my daughter,” Tatum said. “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.”