Jenna Dewan went through a long journey where she tried to find more of herself as the last vestiges of her old life fell away.
There are five stages to grief and the process of reaching the last one, acceptance, is one of the hardest. It doesn't matter if you are famous or rich or both, divorce after a long-term relationship is equally painful for everyone. Some people take years to move on while others are able to do it faster, but there is no easy way to do it.
When Channing Tatum, 39, and Jenna Dewan, 38, one of the most-loved and adored celebrity couples, announced their split in 2018, fans were devastated. They met on the set of Step Up in 2006 and became enamored by each other. After the shooting of the film wrapped up, the couple got together and eventually married in the summer of 2009.
They welcomed their daughter Everly in May 2013 and were one of the most inspiring couples to look up to. However, they announced that they were separating in April 2018.
According to Cosmopolitan, the former couple said they felt like "two best-friends realizing it’s time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible" in a joint statement.
"I was just gutted. It was so difficult for me," Dewan told People. "It was the loss of an idealistic future for myself and my life. What does that now look like for me? Where do I begin? I met him when I was 24, I didn’t know life without Chan," she said.
She had the support of her closest friends and family but realized that she won't be able to move on until she worked on herself.
"It was a hard journey of growth and change," Dewan told People. "Ultimately now I can honestly say that I’m living in a very joyful new place in my life, and I’m happy about it," she said. "People grow and they change and sometimes they don’t grow and change together. So it wasn’t a overnight thing that happened," she said.
In a new book, Gracefully You: How to Live Your Best Life Every Day, the actress and dancer opened up further about the difficult phase of her life. "I always say no one gets married to hopefully get divorced," she said. "There was no one event. I think it was just a slow realization that we wanted different things," the mother-of-one said.
Even after working on herself, she revealed that she came to know about Tatum's new relationship with British singer Jessie J like everyone else and it hurt her. "There I was, on a plane, alone, finding out about his new relationship. I felt blindsided," she said, according to Sun UK.
However, she did not let that stop her from turning the unexpected on its head. Instead, she chose to embrace it and started fresh. She worked on what she wants in life, what was meaningful to her and what gave her happiness.
"I’m grateful that I now am at a place where I understand myself and what I want and I’m happy about this new chapter. I’m in a place of joy," said the dancer, who's going to become a mom again.
Dewan found love with actor Steve Kazee and the couple are soon going to welcome their first child together. "It wasn’t easy necessarily, to get here, but nothing is easy in life, right?” she says. “I had to put in the work. This doesn’t just happen overnight. But just to know that it’s possible, and your perspective on life can change. It can change for the better, and you’ll be fine.”
Tatum and Dewan finalized their divorce in November 2019. They are still working on property settlement and custody agreement, according to ETOnline.
References:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/10395355/channing-tatum-jenna-dewan-finally-legally-single/
https://www.etonline.com/jenna-dewan-and-channing-tatum-finalize-their-divorce-136774
