Channing Tatum is opening up about fatherhood as his ex-wife Jenna Dewan prepares to appear on the upcoming season of “Dancing With the Stars” and he promotes his new movie, “Josephine.”
The actor, 46, spoke about being a dad during a Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival following a screening of “Josephine.”
In the film, Tatum plays Damien, a father trying to help his 8-year-old daughter after she experiences a traumatic event.
Damien encourages his daughter, played by Mason Reeves, to learn self-defense as he tries to protect her. His wife, Claire, played by Gemma Chan, takes a different approach.
Tatum Opens Up About Fatherhood
The role gave Tatum an opportunity to reflect on his own experience as a father to his daughter, Everly, whom he shares with Dewan.
Tatum explained that he wants to be strong for his daughter but acknowledged that parents cannot always hide their own struggles from their children.
“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 okay,” he said per PEOPLE. “I’ve had a moment with my daughter when I was hurt, and I was just like, ‘I’m just not okay right now,’ and you always wanna be like the strongest person, like the Superman in their life, and sometimes you just can’t.”
Tatum and Dewan welcomed Everly in 2013 before separating in 2018.
Tatum Has Dished on How Fast His Daughter Is Growing Up
The actor previously discussed how quickly Everly was growing during a January appearance on “Today with Jenna & Sheinelle,” according to PEOPLE.
Tatum said he was surprised by how much she had changed after he was away for just a couple of weeks.
“They say it happens fast, right? I felt like I left for two weeks to go do some press and I came back and it was the first two weeks of seventh grade and all the baby was gone,” Tatum said.
“It was just gone in two weeks. I thought I was going to have three months or four months of like watching it sort of fade away, but now she’s a full-on teenager now,” he continued. “It’s beautiful but also like, you want to cry.”
Tatum also praised Everly, calling her “so talented and clever. It’s a wild journey.”
The “Magic Mike” star has previously opened up about how fatherhood affects his career decisions. During an October 2025 appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” he described balancing his work with being present for Everly as a “constant negotiation.”
“It’s a balance and it’s a constant negotiation,” he told Clarkson. “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 going to be in Australia and I won’t get to see her for like almost two months.”
Tatum said similar conversations happened when he considered projects including “Roofman” and “Avengers: Doomsday.” With Everly entering middle school, he said he worried about missing important moments.
Still, Everly encouraged her dad to take the “Avengers: Doomsday” role.
“And she was like, ‘No, Dad, you that’s a really good part. I want you to go do that,’” he recalled.
