Jenna Dewan is opening up about her early struggles with motherhood. Appearing on Monday’s episode of Dear Media’s podcast Dear Gabby, the Step Up actress and mom-of-two candidly reflected on her “really hard” first weeks of parenthood, revealing that her ex-husband Channing Tatum was unable to be at her side in the weeks following the birth of their now 8-year-old daughter Everly due to work commitments.
Opening up about that difficult time in her life, Dewan shared that after giving birth to Everly back in 2013 in London while Tatum was filming in the area, she continued to work and travel with their newborn daughter. At the time, Dewan resumed work on Witches of East End in Vancouver, British Columbia, according to E! News, and she “had to travel with her and at the time.” Due to his own work commitments, Tatum “wasn’t available to be with us for the most part.” Instead, Dewan said, “It was me, my doula, and Evie all by ourselves traveling at six weeks.”
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“I thought, ‘OK, I think I can do that. It’ll be two months after and I’ll have her on set,’” she recalled of that period of time on the podcast. “That was really hard because that was long hours. I did have her on set with me constantly. It was just really difficult.”
Dewan admitted that those early weeks alone with her ex-husband there to help left her with “a lot of postpartum anxiety.” Dewan said that as a working mom to a newborn, “it just never stopped.” She recalled, “You’re up a couple times in the night and then you’re working all day. I was breastfeeding. I was pumping. I was without a partner. I mean, it was just craziness.”
Dewan and Tatum welcomed Everly, their only child together, four years after they tied the knot 2009. The former couple first met on the set of their 2006 movie Step Up. After announcing in April 2018 that they had “lovingly chosen to separate as a couple,” Dewan in October of that year officially filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. In the years since their split, Dewan has found new love in now-fiancé Steve Kazee. The couple got engaged in 2020 just months before they welcomed their first child together, son Callum Michael Rebel, 1.
Recalling Callum’s birth on the Dear Gabby podcast, Dewan noted that post-partum life was starkly different from her postpartum life following Everly’s birth. Callum was born amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and amid nationwide lockdowns, Dewan quarantined at home. Dewan said that “this time around, I was so grounded. Even though the world was crazy, I was home and in this love nest and it was different… It was great. It was me, Steve, Callum and Evie just cuddling. It was so lovely.”
