HOW CHANNING & JENNA LOST THE MAGIC
The Tinsel town fav es have been hiding a sad marriage secret
Hollywood isn’t exactly fertile growing ground for everlasting love, but it always seemed like Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan had a secret formula to maintain marital bliss in the bright lights of stardom.
It’s perhaps why millions of hearts broke when the red-carpet regulars, both 37, released a joint statement last week revealing they had “lovingly chosen to separate”, becoming the latest touched by the Tinseltown love curse.
And it was hardly a snap decision, Woman’s Day learns. “The writing has been on the wall for the past year or two,” discloses a pal of the couple.
“They have been leading virtually separate lives. If they weren’t married and didn’t have a kid, they would have split a long time ago. But their daughter was the glue that kept them together.”
And the couple, who have been married for almost nine years, kept the showmance going right until the last moment. At the end of March, they attended the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards with their four-year-old daughter Everly, looking every inch the happy family.
But less than two weeks later, on April 2, the pair posted the same message to their respective Instagram accounts, stating they were “just two best friends realising it’s time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible”.
It’s very fitting that their final public appearance was on the red carpet of a glitzy event as over the years, this is where the world fell in love with the stunning couple.
Since the start of their romance in 2006, when their on-screen romance in the dance film StepUp trickled into real life, their relationship always came alive in front of the crowds and cameras of an A-list function. It was that sizzling chemistry which felt truly palpable.
But a source says that behind those very public displays of affection, their relationship started to crumble all the way back in 2013.
“It’s a shame because they are such a beautiful couple and when you saw them out together, there was never any hint of problems in their relationship,” explains an insider. “They were always flirty and seemed to adore each other. The trouble is they were like ships that passed in the night so much of the time and it became a marriage in name only.”
Drifting apart
It’s been no secret that Channing’s fame, and in turn his schedule, has exploded over the last decade. And our source says that while he’s been busy massaging his new title of Hollywood heart-throb, Jenna is left playing the rather unglamorous role of stay-athome mum.
“Channing likes to go off and do his own thing and when he’s away from home, he lives like he’s a bachelor again,” tells the source. “He is always busy shooting movies and working, and women can’t help but flock to him.
“And while Jenna loves the life they had in Los Angeles, in her heart she knew the marriage was doomed. She knows that girls fling themselves at Channing and, even though he always comes home, she wants a husband who will be there for her all the time and take her out on dates – not someone who is thousands of miles away for months on end.”
Over the past few years, the couple had left some breadcrumbs that not all was right in their marriage. In February, Jenna explained, “When people say, ‘You guys have such a perfect life,’ I want to scream and tell them no-one’s perfect.”
And in 2015, Channing himself acknowledged how his rising star was affecting his marriage. When asked how he balanced work and his family life, he replied simply, “not very well”.
But our source says that one of the biggest bugbears was as that the MagicMike agicMike actor tor wanted more ore kids
and Jenna wanted to fix their marriage before trying.
“Channing wanted more babies. He was desperate for a son and it was something they talked about at the start of last year,” tells the insider. “But Jenna didn’t want to bring another child into an unhappy marriage and kept putting it off.”
Secretpain
Instead, they tried different avenues to salvage their rocky romance, including counselling sessions and a trial split last year.
“Channing didn’t like talking about their problems in front of a stranger and he kept finding excuses for not going,” explains the source. “In the end, Jenna realised it was a hopeless case.”
Now, it’s believed that the former couple will share custody of their daughter, with Jenna telling pals she doesn’t think a messy divorce will ensue.
“They will be there to support each other if the going goi gets tough,” our source says. say “And whatever happens, they the are both sure they will love lov each other forever.”