Channing Tatum said he was nervous about being single dad after showing off daughter for first time
Topics: Channing Tatum, Celebrity, Parenting
Jess Hardiman
Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@channingtatum
Topics: Channing Tatum, Celebrity, Parenting
Channing Tatum admitted that he felt nervous to become a single dad after splitting from his ex, having only shared his daughter’s face in a photo on social media a couple of summers ago.
Tatum, 42, is dad to nine-year-old Everly, who he shares with ex-wife Jenna Dewan.
The pair were married for 10 years before eventually breaking up in 2019, with Tatum going on to date singer Jessie J before confirming he was in a relationship with Zoe Kravitz in 2021.
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The proud dad often shares photos of his daughter on Instagram, but usually prefers to obscure her face.
However, in the summer of 2021, he posted a full picture of her for the first time, having shared a photo of the two of them on a beach at sunset.
He wrote: “You my littles are everything! 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.”
But Tatum had previously revealed that he felt apprehensive about becoming a single dad when he and Dewan called it quits, realising he would have to learn a lot.
Speaking to People after he posted the adorable Instagram picture, he said: “I was really nervous when I became a single dad and having to raise a little girl, not being able to have the resource of a woman there to be able to lean into how to relate to her as she grows up.
“I literally went to YouTube and learned how to braid hair.”
Tatum – who regularly posts cute snaps of himself in a tutu while hanging out with Everly – said that the easiest way for him to relate to his daughter was ‘just to go into her world and connect with her in any way’.
"If it's wearing a tutu or painting your nails or wearing makeup — who cares? It just worked for me," he said.
Tatum said this bond is what inspired him to write his first children’s book, The One and Only Sparkella.
"I see dads sometimes, and... being a parent is hard,” he added.
“I wanted the book to be a little bit of a letter to them.
"Just play — you'll be rewarded with love."