Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan have become the latest long-term Hollywood couple to call it quits, following a few months of speculation over the status of their marriage.
The former couple, who met on the set of Step Up in 2006 and share a five-year-old daughter Everly, announced the news via a statement on social media.
‘We have lovingly chosen to separate as a couple,’ it explains. ‘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. 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. We are still a family and will always be loving dedicated parents to Everly.’
As one of the longest-lasting and most popular couples in Hollywood, fans have reacted to the news with shock, with many renouncing love entirely.
Speculation that the couple’s marriage was in trouble begun in March, when Dewan attended the Vanity Fair Oscars Party solo. At the time, she explained Tatum’s absence by saying he was looking after their daughter at home so that she could have a ‘girls’ night’.
The couple continued to share pictures of each other on Instagram, including one a few weeks’ after the Oscars of their faces covered in face paint drawn by Everly. In December, Tatum wrote a heartfelt birthday message to his wife, saying ‘This creature is one more year beautiful. The transformation she invoked this year has been something they only write about in books of fairytale and magic. Your strength and grace ever-evolving.’
In an interview with Health magazine in February, Dewan spoke about the frustrations of being considered a ‘perfect’ couple, explaining that all marriages require work: ‘When people say you guys have such a perfect life, I want to scream and tell them no one’s perfect. I think there are such things as great fits. It is a great fit as long as you are growing together, and I think up until this point we’ve really grown together. Even if one starts to grow, the other catches up and vice versa.’
Fans of the couple can take solace in the wording of the split announcement though, with that subtle hint at a potential reconcilement in the ‘for now.’