Channing Tatum is getting candid about the challenges of fatherhood.
“It’s a really tough thing to tell the little being that you love more than anything in the world that you’re actually not OK,” Tatum, 46, said during a Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, September 13, following a screening of his new film Josephine.
“I’ve had a moment with my daughter when I was hurt, and I was just like, ‘I’m just not OK right now,’ and you always wanna be like the strongest person, like the Superman in their life, and sometimes you just can’t,” Tatum continued.
Tatum and ex-wife Jenna Dewan welcomed daughter Everly, 13, in May 2013, five years before the pair’s separation in 2018. Tatum and Dewan, 45, finalized their divorce in September 2024, agreeing to share joint custody. (In addition to Everly, the Dancing With the Stars season 35 contestant is also mom to Callum, 6, and Rhiannon, 2, with fiancé Steve Kazee.)
Josephine stars Mason Reeves as the titular 8-year-old girl, who accidentally witnesses a crime in Golden Gate Park and begins to act out violently to protect herself. Tatum and Gemma Chan play Josephine’s parents, who search for justice as they navigate their daughter’s trauma.
The drama film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in February, where it won both the Grand Jury and Audience Awards. Tatum made headlines at the time for his reaction to the premiere, crying “five, six, seven times” during the screening.
“One of the scenes that got me, and I wasn’t there for the filming it, is when Josephine is looking through the window and drawing things,” the Roofman actor told Variety at the time. “I bawled my eyes out. It was such a beautiful scene. That was unexpected. There are so many moments in this movie where you think about your own child and your own childhood.”
Tatum continued, “I have a daughter, and it has made me look at myself and the way I parent and what the connection is and how I’m communicating things. This movie deals with such hard subjects, but in such a masterfully artful way. I am so proud to be in it.”
Since becoming a single dad, Tatum has opened up about the highs and lows of parenting, admitting in October 2025 that he and Everly are in a “constant negotiation.”
“I actually just had a conversation with my daughter on the way to school, like two days ago, because I’m trying to make some decisions on a movie to go do next year that’s gonna be in Australia and I won’t get to see her for almost two months,” he said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “Avengers was going to be in London. Same thing. It wasn’t as long, but I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to take it, Ev, because I’m going to miss the beginning of your middle school.’ She was like, ‘No, Dad, that’s a really good part. I want you to go do that.’ I was in tears as well.”
