Channing Tatum’s Best Quotes About Parenting, Raising Daughter Everly With Ex Jenna Dewan

Credit: Courtesy of Channing Tatum/Instagram

Channing Tatum's Best Quotes About Parenting, Raising Daughter Everly With Ex Jenna Dewan

Seriously stepping up! Channing Tatum has been candid about the challenges of raising daughter Everly both before and after his split from Jenna Dewan. The former couple met while filming 2006's Step Up and tied the knot in July 2009. Three years later, the costars revealed Dewan was pregnant with their first child — but their busy schedules didn't slow down. "We're going to actually have the baby in London while I'm shooting, and then there will be no downtime whatsoever after that," Tatum told Ryan Seacrest in an interview about filming Jupiter Ascending in the U.K. shortly before Dewan gave birth. Us Weekly broke the news in June 2013 that the pair's daughter had arrived one month prior. "Channing is going to be the most adorable hands-on daddy ever and do whatever is necessary to make sure Jenna can balance it all," a source exclusively revealed at the time. [jwplayer r5NTvTWk-zhNYySv2] Tatum quickly went back to work promoting his movie White House Down after Everly's arrival — but it wasn't easy. "I'm working in London and you're away from your daughter for 12 hours a day, 15 hours a day, and you come back and you feel like her face has changed from the time you left in the morning until you came back at night, so that's pretty hard," he told Us and other reporters at a premiere in June 2013, adding that "nothing is more important" than being with family. When it comes to Everly's Hollywood future, the 21 Jump Street actor was hesitant. "You know, she's going to grow up and do whatever she's going to do," he said. "I don't really have any sway. ... I want her to have a grounded, beautiful life. But she's going to do what she's going to do." Five years later, the Lego Movie star and the Flirty Dancing host announced they called it quits after nearly a decade of marriage. Dewan filed for divorce in October 2018, and Us confirmed in February 2020 that a judge signed off on the proceedings. (Dewan went on to welcome son Callum with fiancé Steve Kazee in March 2020.) Raising his little girl solo was an adjustment, but Tatum jumped in headfirst. "I want dads not to be afraid to go into their daughter's world and discover who they are," he told Parents magazine in April 2021. "When I became a single father, I had a lot of fear about connecting to Everly in every way that a little girl might want. ... I didn't wear nail polish or know how to braid hair. But now I do both." The Bullet Train star said Everly was the inspiration for his children's book The One and Only Sparkella, adding, "Just like Sparkella, Evie loves to play tricks, wear crazy outfits, and be different from everyone. She's bold, beautiful, and magical in every way." Scroll down for more of Tatum's best quotes about fatherhood:

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January 2023

The Lost City star revealed if he planned to tell his daughter that his career as a stripper inspired the Magic Mike franchise. 

When she's old enough to watch them, we'll have that conversation," told Entertainment Tonight at the time. "There's no version of me not having the conversation of 'Dad didn't just do them in movies, I was an actual stripper,' so I'm not gonna lie to her."

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January 2023

During an interview, Tatum broke down how his split from Dewan worked in his favor with Everly.

"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," he shared with Vanity Fair at the time. "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.”

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August 2022

Tatum opened up about teaching Everly the importance of inclusion, explaining that living in Los Angeles makes it easier to approach the conversation. "L.A. is a mecca of being open and of completely new ideas of everything really," he told Entertainment Tonight. "There's a lot that's always changing and it's very mercurial and that's kind of the fun about it, to be honest, because I get to learn along with my daughter."

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July 2022

"I've never been more creative in any movie or any creative venture I've ever done than I have been with my daughter," the Lost City star told Fatherly, teasing that Everly has a "contrarian" personality. "My experience was to go into her world and be there with her. If she likes dragons, I'll go be a dragon. If she likes witches, I'll become a warlock."

Tatum acknowledged that he "grew up very, very different" from what his daughter has experienced so far. "I watched her go through some of these very pivotal, very seminal moments of a child — being self-conscious for the very first time, trying to navigate expectations for the first time. ... Learning to be a parent is probably messier than being a kid," he said.

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February 2022

The Dog star described the challenges of being a single parent post-divorce, telling V Man, "I know that I liked to act and play make believe and magical things, but I just didn't know if I was going to be able to meet [my daughter] on her level, especially now that I'm a single dad. I was doubly afraid. Was I going to be able to do any of the stuff that a mother should do? That a mother, as a woman, can relate to her as?"

To bond with Everly, Tatum vowed to "do whatever that is that she wanted to do," no matter how silly.

Credit: Courtesy of Channing Tatum/Instagram

June 2021

The Magic Mike actor shared the first photo of his child's face via Instagram alongside a sweet tribute. "You my littles are everything!" he wrote. "You are my world and my heart. You were looking at the full moon in this pic and telling me the prophecy of the full moon mermaid and then we ran into the water and looked for her and played with glow sticks in the night water calling out to the mermaids. You said you touched a bald-headed mermaid and saw a tail. Haha one day you will read this, and I hope laugh. We have fun. Hehehe."

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April 2021

"I want dads not to be afraid to go into their daughter's world and discover who they are," the Alabama native said while discussing his children's book The One and Only Sparkella with Parents magazine. "When I became a single father, I had a lot of fear about connecting to Everly in every way that a little girl might want. I didn't wear nail polish or know how to braid hair. But now I do both."

Credit: James Gourley/Shutterstock

March 2020

Tatum gave fans a glimpse of how he and Everly were keeping busy amid the COVID-19 lockdown, sharing footage from their outdoor adventures. "In this time of fear we choose [to] stay adventurous and full of love and life," he wrote via his Instagram Story. "Things are so scary. So for us little challenges anywhere anyhow are tiny milestones to keep our mind and heart present and connected."

In one clip of a hike, Everly quipped, "We are going to die," before telling her dad, "If I die just know that I've always loved you."

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September 2018

The Hateful Eight actor exclusively told Us that Everly is one of his toughest critics. "Not only does she tell me that she doesn't like my movies, she doesn't even call them real movies," he joked. "One of my movies will be on and I'm like, 'Look! Daddy's on the screen!' And she'll be like, 'Ugh, Dad. Can we watch a real movie or something?'"

However, the little one was partial to his animated flick Smallfoot. "I was really wondering if she was gonna like it or not, 'cause she only likes movies with female heroes or fairies, princesses and things like that," he explained. "I was hoping that [one] character would come through for me and keep her in the theater and it did! She loves Zendaya's character."

Credit: Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

April 2018

When Tatum and Dewan called it quits, the pair declared that Everly was their first priority. "We are still a family and will always be loving dedicated parents to Everly. We won't be commenting beyond this, and we thank you all in advance for respecting our family’s privacy," read a joint statement shared via Instagram.

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June 2013

Shortly after becoming a dad, Tatum confessed that it was "very hard" to be away from his then-wife and newborn while doing press for White House Down. "I can tell you that being a new dad is pretty terrifying," he told Us at the time. "I'm pretty sure that something about [protecting] the president [like in the movie] makes the stakes a little higher, but to me as a new father, nothing is more important or scary than protecting a daughter."