Jenna Dewan Reveals How She Recovered After Channing Tatum Split: ‘I Let Myself Grieve’

Jenna Dewan is opening up about her divorce from Channing Tatum at last, saying that it has been an emotional year for both of them.

Dewan and Tatum called of their marriage of almost nine years back in April, in a joint statement posted on social media. They asked for privacy at the time, but now Dewan has offered some insight in an interview with Cosmopolitan. For her, she said, the key has been allowing time and space to simply be sad.

“People are like, ‘How do you get through this?’ I didn’t run away from my feelings. I let myself cry. I let myself grieve,” she said. “This is one of those situations where I will see the light. The dawn is coming.”

Dewan talked about the massive fandom surrounding her relationship with Tatum, and the struggle to parse that along with her own feelings.

“I’m obviously super aware that people know me, they know Channing, they know us together,” Dewan said. “We’d been a beloved couple for a long time.”

However, the fans helped her keep the good times in mind as well. She recalled an encounter with fans overseas who complimented her appearance on Lip Sync Battle, where she and Tatum got up close and personal for a performance.

“I was in Berlin and people were like, ‘We love your Lip Sync Battle!’ I was like, ‘Oh my god. You mean the time when I humped my husband-at-the-time’s face?’” she joked. “I’m so glad that’s my calling card.”

Meanwhile, Dewan was still not prepared to speak too openly about her new romance with actor Steve Kazee. The two have been spotted together on several public outings now, and Dewan is reportedly growing pretty attached. However, in her interview, she merely commented on love in a more general sense.

“I do believe in love still, but I also believe it begins with really digging deep and learning how to love yourself. And then I think you sort of transmute that out to attract the right partner,” she said. “I think that people who are meant to be sort of find each other.”

Dewan and Tatum have been friendly since their break-up. The two share a 5-year-old daughter named Everly, and she keeps them both focused on effective co-parenting in the midst of their split. The two even claimed that they still have a lot of live between them in their statement on their break-up.

“We have lovingly chosen to separate as a couple. We fell deeply in love so many years ago and have had a magical journey together,” they wrote at the time. “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,” the statement read.

“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,” the statement added.