Channing Tatum Almost Quit Acting After Jenna Dewan Filed For Divorce

Some things in life can shake a person's conviction and make them reconsider everything they have achieved.

Sometimes, it's a major life event like the death of a loved one, or a life crisis. Or, sometimes it's the littlest of things that can have the biggest impact. 

In Channing Tatum's case, it was his separation from Jenna Dewan, his wife of nearly nine years. After their divorce, the actor and director considered retiring and leaving Hollywood and the film industry for good. Read on to find out what happened and how Tatum is doing now. 

In a cover story interview with Variety, the "Dog" actor and director revealed that back in 2018, when he and Dewan announced that they would be going their separate ways, he thought about retiring from the movie business. 

He said that he remembered thinking, "Do I want to act anymore? Was I going to direct? Do I want to be in the industry anymore? I got lucky. I won a creative lottery ticket. I made a little bit of money, so I could take a step back and figure out what life is."

He then decided to take time off, and he said, "I sculpted. I took pictures. I wrote my own stuff, not like a script or anything. Just creating on different levels. I wanted to take a breather." His time off helped him rethink his perspective on many things and decide on the path he wanted to take.

During the interview, Tatum also mentioned that there was a time he felt burnt out from taking on too many projects and not taking enough rest time and breaks in between. He specified that it was during his time working on "22 Jump Street" in 2014 and "Jupiter Ascending" in 2015.

He said, "I felt like I was the fat kid at the buffet, just working and working and working. I took four movies back to back without any time off. I wasn't as good as I wanted to be in those last two movies because I didn't have the energy."

Tatum and Dewan announced their divorce in April 2018 and now co-parent their daughter Everly. At the time, they released a statement that said they had "lovingly chosen to separate as a couple."

The statement also said, "We fell deeply in love so many years ago and have had a magical journey together. Absolutely nothing has changed about how much we love one another, but love is a beautiful adventure that is taking us on different paths for now."

It concluded with, "There are no secrets nor salacious events at the root of our decision — just two best-friends realizing it's time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible." Their divorce was finalized in November 2019, and Jenna Dewan is now engaged to Steve Kazee, with whom she has a son, Callum.

After his divorce, Tatum briefly dated singer Jessie J and has now been romantically linked with actress Zoe Kravitz. Kravitz married Karl Glusmann in 2019, but she filed for divorce in December 2020. 

In a September 2021 interview with Another magazine, Kravitz said, "Separations, breakups are sad but are beautiful things too. It's about the bittersweetness, that beginning and that end. It's so complex, that space, when you're in between heartbroken and mourning the loss of something and excited for what's ahead of you."

That same month, Kravitz and Tatum were seen leaving the 2021 Met Gala together for an afterparty, during which an insider told People that "they did not take their hands off of each other." In October, another source revealed that the two "don't seem to care about hiding their relationship anymore" and that it's "obvious that they are very happy."