Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are putting their daughter first. The Magic Mike actor opened up about how he is focusing on 5-year-old Everly amid his divorce from the former World of Dance host.
“In my opinion and experience, Everly has appeared to adjust to our separation and living in two homes exceptionally well,” Tatum, 38, said in court documents obtained by Us Weekly on Monday, January 28. “I believe that she will thrive even more with structure and consistency because she is happy and more relaxed when she knows a plan.”
In the documents, the 21 Jump Street star said he rented a house after moving out of the one he shared with Dewan, 38, and has “decorated Everly’s room very girly in a fairytale and fantasy theme (i.e. Alice in Wonderland), with pictures of Everly with both [Dewan] and me on trips.” He also noted that he created an “outdoor art space at the house” for Everly, who has recently “learned about different artists, such as Jackson Pollock, and we try to replicate his work as well as the work of other artists.”
In the documents obtained by Us, Tatum said that he and his daughter enjoy playing tic-tac-toe together and she “has an uncanny ability to win Candyland approximately 80% of the time.” They also watch American Ninja Warrior together and play on obstacle courses that he set up in the backyard. In addition, Tatum said that Everly recently started ballet classes and scored the role of Lisa in Mamma Mia!
The Dear John star has also proposed a regular visitation schedule, with himself having custody of Everly on Mondays and Tuesdays, Dewan having custody on Wednesdays and Thursdays and the two of them alternating weekends. He has also reportedly asked for each of them to have two weeks of exclusive time with Everly during her summer vacation from school, in addition to evenly splitting up Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s. He would like to continue celebrating Everly’s birthday and Halloween as a family. (Tatum and Dewan took Everly trick-or-treating together last year.)
According to separate court documents obtained by Us, the estranged couple — who met on the set of Step Up in 2006, married in 2009 and announced their split in April 2018 — are set to go through a family-centered case resolution conference, which will help expedite their divorce case.
“We look forward to resolving these matters in a timely and straightforward way,” Dewan’s lawyer, Samantha Spector, says in a statement to Us. “Nothing in the world matters more to Jenna than the comfort and well-being of her daughter Everly. Everything Jenna has done and will continue to do is with that in mind.”
Since calling it quits, Tatum and Dewan have started seeing other people. Us broke the news in October 2018 that the actor is dating singer Jessie J, while the former backup dancer is in a relationship with Broadway star Steve Kazee.
“They’ve both handled their split maturely from the start,” a source told Us in December. “This whole situation has never been contentious, and there’s never been any animosity or hatred toward each other.”
