Channing Tatum Admits He Was “Nervous” as Single Dad to 10-YO Daughter | He Learned “How to Braid Her Hair” on YouTube

Channing Tatum, renowned for his role in Magic Mike's Last Dance, recently revealed his experiences as a single father. During an appearance on TODAY with Hoda and Jenna, the 43-year-old actor delved into his latest venture, a children's book titled The One and Only Sparkella and the Big Lie.

In addition to discussing the book, Tatum shared how it has assisted him in navigating the joys and challenges of parenting his 10-year-old daughter, Everly, whom he co-parents with his ex-wife, Jenna Dewan, 42. In his conversation, Tatum opened up about the initial nerves he experienced when facing the prospect of parenting his child alone.

Tatum became a single father about the time he initially began working on the Sparkella stories, Jenna Bush Hager stated, asking whether the character had an impact on his parenting, per PEOPLE. Tatum replied, "I didn’t plan to be a single dad, that was not in the cards [or] in my planning at the least. And I was pretty nervous. I was like, ‘She’s a girl.’ I was like looking up YouTube on how to braid her hair. I didn’t want to be the dad who was bringing her to school looking like she had just slept on the street. So yeah, this series of books kind of came from that. It was me really figuring out how to talk to a little girl."

Tatum said that he thinks children have the capacity to alter to some extent from the characteristics they are born with. And dealing with his own daughter, who constantly keeps him on his toes, presents a challenge, per TODAY. “I think they really do come out like almost how they’re going to be. You have like 10% on either end, which is a lot, to affect the center,” he said. “But she was a contrarian before she knew what an opposite was. She loves tricking people. She lives just to mess with me all day long.”

When Kotb asked Tatum what kind of parent he is, he replied, "I have no idea, I don’t know. I’m just trying to get by. I think like every other parent, you’re just trying not to mess your kids up. But you know you’re going to."

He added, "When I knew I was going to have a kid, I was like, ‘Alright, I’m probably going to be the parent — I plan to be the parent — who was probably going to get her in more trouble than I kept her out of.’ And then as they kind of get older, you start to realize, ‘Oh, I have to set boundaries.’ And weirdly, kids, even though they don’t want boundaries, they do want boundaries. Her anxiety goes down, her stress level goes down when she just understands the rules."

References:

https://people.com/channing-tatum-single-dad-daughter-everly-7506956

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRZBW9p59f0

https://www.today.com/parents/celebrity/channing-tatum-daughter-everly-boundaries-rcna86813

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Jon Kopaloff