Channing Tatum’s latest movie, the third instalment of the Magic Mike trilogy is hitting cinemas next month.
But while we’re all anxiously waiting to see what the final movie has in store, it turns out it hasn’t all been fun and games for the star.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actor reflected on his life after the release of the first Magic Mike film back in 2012, stating that he had become extremely busy and then life “kind of fell apart,” so much so he “stopped working for almost 5 years.”
Things began to go downhill when Marvel refused to proceed with the Gambit movie he and Reid Carolin had been developing, he shared it was at this moment that he realised he had lost enjoyment in it, leaving the actor “devastated.”
“It got swallowed up into Disney by way of Marvel when they bought Fox, and ultimately I just think that the tone of the movie we wanted to make was very far from what they wanted to do—or, you know, maybe they’re waiting to see how they do it with us or without us,” Tatum said.
“We call every once in a while, but we’ve got to spiritually, emotionally, kind of mentally let it go.”
It’s clear Tatum had been feeling stuck in his career and was looking for a way to break free.
“I was working a lot,” he shared. “I had gotten to work with some of my favourite directors. I had checked boxes that I would never have hoped to dream about. But something just wasn’t quite filling me up.
“I was sort of kind of just trying not to be bad in movies, instead of being good. And I was kind of going, ‘What’s…’ And it really had nothing to do with my work. It was really about my life.”
Tatum, who is now dating Zoë Kravitz, married Jenna Dewan back in 2009, 3 years after they met on the set of Step Up. Sadly, the pair called it quits in 2019, and he feels his workload had a part to play in their separation.
He shared that this caused his relationship with Dewan, with whom he has a 9-year-old daughter, Everly, to break down.
“We fought for it for a really long time, even though we both sort of knew that we had sort of grown apart,” he said.
After much deliberation, he decided to take a break and give himself some time and space. Taking a step back allowed Tatum to gain perspective on his life, prioritise what’s important and ultimately make the decision he felt was best for him.
Tatum said: “It was probably exactly what I needed. I don’t think I would’ve ever done the work, I think, on myself in the way that I had to do the work on myself to really try to figure out what next.
“And really, it just started with my daughter. I just dropped everything and just focused on her. And it was truly the best possible thing that I ever could have done. Because in the alone time that I have with just me and her, we’ve become best friends.”
