Channing Tatum might be the only dad who dances less cool on purpose — but his silly dad moves serve a very important purpose. The Blink Twice star revealed how he made a major change to his dancing style to avoid “horrifying” his 11-year-old daughter Everly, who he shares with ex Jenna Dewan, and as a daughter myself, I know she would appreciate it if she knew!
In an interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers on Wednesday, Tatum opened up about seeing Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Los Angeles last summer versus seeing the show in London last week with fiancée Zoë Kravitz. “I saw it in LA with my daughter. Seeing it with your daughter is very different because you know, you gotta like go in. I was dancing like I’d never danced before,” the Magic Mike star said, demonstrating by moving his hands and shaking his head side to side.
“That’s a lot coming from you,” Meyers jokingly responded, referring to the actor’s risqué dance moves.
“Well you also have to make sure you’re not dancing like you dance, you know what I mean? There was none of this,” Tatum said, doing a little body roll to emphasize the point. “There was zero of that.”
“She’s like, ‘Make sure you dance like you’ve never danced before,’” Meyers joked, making Tatum laugh. “I’m so grateful that she doesn’t know how I dance,” he said.
Meyers warned him that “it’s gonna happen,” and she’ll probably find out from someone else. “It’s going to be horrifying when it does [happen],” the Step Up star answered. “But it’s a lot of like, this stuff and I’m just gonna keep it in that area,” Tatum said, swinging his arms in a silly way.
Can you imagine? I would be scarred for life if my dad made a movie like Magic Mike, so on behalf of daughters everywhere, thank you for saving her from that! (On the other hand, on behalf of adults everywhere, thank you for making it in the first place…)
Even though he isn’t thrilled about the idea of Everly watching his movies, Tatum does plan to be honest with her about his past as a stripper. In a Jan. 2023 interview with Entertainment Tonight, he said, “When she’s old enough to watch them, we’ll have that conversation.”
He went on, “There’s no version of me not having the conversation of ‘Dad didn’t just do them in movies, I was an actual stripper,’ so I’m not gonna lie to her.”
In the meantime, he’s just enjoying Everly’s childhood. Like recently, when he took her to Salem, Massachusetts, to enjoy the spooky, witchy vibes of the place. “My daughter is obsessed with witches,” the Fly Me to the Moon star said on his appearance on Late Night. He added, “She’s been wanting to go to Salem, maybe for the last seven years of her life.”
After finally agreeing to take her, Tatum wondered if it wouldn’t live up to her expectations. “I’m like, maybe this will be one of those moments where she’s like, ‘Oh, it’s not what I thought,’ you know? It’s like the idea of going to Egypt and thinking that there’s just mummies around all the time and stuff. I was like, maybe she will just be like, kind of less mesmerized.”
But, “nope!” “She was so leaning in,” Tatum explained. “We stayed at the second-most haunted hotel, the Hawthorne, and they were like, ‘Don’t go to the third floor or the sixth floor.’ And I was like, ‘Not gonna do that, like, at all.’ And my daughter was just like, ‘Let’s just go up there a little bit.’” He added, “She loved it so much.”
They have the sweetest bond! And as much as we love Tatum’s dance moves, seeing him in his girl dad era is our new favorite.
Before you go, check out these celebrity dads who have the sweetest bonds with their daughters.
