Channing Tatum has built a career playing characters who look unshakeable, but at a recent Toronto International Film Festival screening for his new movie Josephine, he talked about a much harder role: being honest with his daughter when he isn't feeling strong at all.
Wanting to be the Superman, and knowing he can't always be
Tatum described the instinct most parents recognize, wanting to be the strongest person in his child's life, the Superman she can always count on. But he was candid that the instinct runs into reality eventually, recalling a moment when he was hurting and made the decision to tell Everly, now 13, the truth rather than putting on a front for her.
He called it a genuinely tough thing to say to the person he loves more than anything, admitting he isn't okay. Not the kind of thing that comes naturally to someone whose job has largely been built on projecting confidence and control.
A different kind of lesson for a teenager
What Tatum took from the experience was less about protecting Everly from difficulty and more about letting her see him as human. As she has grown into what he has previously called a full on teenager, he has leaned into being present and honest with her rather than maintaining an image of invulnerability, even when that honesty is uncomfortable for him.
It is a small shift in framing, but one that reflects where Tatum's public comments about fatherhood have been heading for a while: less about the highlight reel moments and more about the ordinary, harder work of raising a kid who is growing up fast.