Honesty hour. Jenna Dewan recalled in her new book, Gracefully You: Finding Beauty and Balance in the Everyday, how nervous she was to ask for her daughter Everly’s permission to start dating again after divorcing Channing Tatum. The actress is now dating Steve Kazee — they are expecting their first child together — but the opinion of her 6-year-old came first.
Jenna, 38, and Channing, 39, were married for nine years before calling things off. In addition to heartbreak, the World of Dance Star had to learn a new routine as a single mother and how she would navigate finding love again. “On top of that [pressure], were my fears of moving forward. What would that look like? Dating … ?” an excerpt from her new book reads. “Then there was my daughter. She’s very shy and funny and standoffish with men. It takes her a long time to warm up to others. I predicted this child was going to be jealous of whoever else I spent my time with. How would I ever date with her blessing? My fears were going haywire.”
Despite the scary transition, the brunette beauty fell head-over-heels for her new beau, 43, and they are preparing for the arrival of their baby. Surprisingly, Jenna and Channing are still very friendly coparents and have prepared themselves for the possibility of their daughter having half-siblings.
“Channing and Jenna know that other children, on both their parts, are probably in their future, and that’s not a problem,” a source exclusively divulged to Life & Style back in May, before the actress announced her pregnancy. “In fact, blended families are very normal and Everly hasn’t stopped asking about when she’s going to get a baby sister or brother. They’ll cross that bridge when they get there, but it looks like they will eventually get there.” Lucky for Everly, a new sib is on the way!
“Jenna and Channing just want the other to be happy and make sure that Everly is always safe and in appropriate surroundings,” the insider continued. “That’s pretty much their only objective. They understand better than anyone that life goes on after divorce, and that they’ll always have Everly in common.”
Life after divorce was uncertain for Jenna, and it’s amazing to see how well she’s doing now!