In the process of attempting to reach a divorce settlement in court, Jenna Dewan is seeking that Channing Tatum testify, while Tatum is requesting that both Dewan and her fiance Steve Kazee testify simultaneously. There is still a disagreement between Dewan and Tatum about a financial settlement, which includes income from Tatum’s Magic Mike franchise, six years after they first declared their decision to end their relationship.
In the court filings that were acquired by PEOPLE on Wednesday, April 10, Dewan filed her “preliminary witness list,” which contained both her and Tatum’s names. In July of 2009, Tatum and Dewan tied the knot, and in October of 2018, Dewan filed a petition for divorce. They have a daughter named Everly who is ten years old.
According to the document, Dewan, who is 43 years old, is requesting that both she and Tatum, who is also 43 years old, “testify regarding all issues related to the parties’ marriage including business and financial activities.”
In court filings that were submitted by lawyers for Tatum and acquired by PEOPLE, the actor mentions Dewan and Kazee, who is 48 years old, as witnesses on his list of prospective witnesses. According to the statement, Kazee “is expected to testify regarding his and Petitioner’s cohabitation, joint expenses, and all matters related to these matters.”
Thursday, April 12 is the day when Tatum and Dewan are expected to appear in court. The documents filed with the court indicate that the “key issues” that will be discussed during the trial include the partition of property, reimbursement claims, support, violation of fiduciary responsibility, and lawyer costs.
Dewan singled out the intellectual property associated with Magic Mike, which he said they had purchased jointly and is the “largest issue” that would have an impact on the activities of the others. As stated by Dewan, the “characterization and division” of the intellectual property belonging to Magic Mike had to be settled upon first since it “will impact the resolution of the other financial issues in this case.”
In addition to this, she said that the lawsuit has been postponed due to Tatum’s apparent refusal “to accept an equal division of the Magic Mike intellectual property.” In addition to this, she claims that he transferred the license rights to a third party without informing her and that he created “an irrevocable trust” with the revenues.
Tatum disagrees with her assertion. According to the papers that were submitted to the court by his legal representatives, the actor “has expended extensive efforts since separation towards the enhancement of the Magic Mike intellectual property and related entities, which Respondent contends give rise to his separate property interest therein.”
“The Court will need to allocate the community interest and Respondent’s separate property interest in the intellectual property and related entities in consideration of Respondent’s post-separation efforts,” according to the legal filings.
Dewan went on to assert that Tatum did not inform her about financial prospects related to Magic Mike and that he “collected one hundred percent of the profits” after they had separated without her knowledge when they were no longer together. In addition, the actress said that Tatum had transferred their stake in the Saints and Sinners, LLC restaurant to a trust arrangement.
In addition, Eric Fulton, Tatum’s business manager, as well as a number of Fulton’s employees, are on the witness list that Dewan has compiled in order to hear testimony on “business and financial activities” that occurred during their marriage and after they divorced. The specific questions that would be directed against Fulton would include the financial aspects of the Magic Mike business as well as its “intellectual property.”
The list of witnesses includes a number of additional individuals who have testified about Magic Mike’s “business, creative, and financial activities.” Tatum also includes his business partners and Steven Soderbergh, the director of Magic Mike, on his own list of witnesses.
Dewan also provided a list of exhibits for the trial, which includes papers like as joint income tax returns that were filed during their marriage and after they split. Additionally, the list has information about the Tatum Family Irrevocable Trust, which was founded in July 2016, as well as the Magic Mike company. Tatum also provides a list of a variety of document types, including work calendars, real estate assessments, and financial records.
Additional items that are included on her list of exhibits include bank and credit card bills belonging to both Dewan and Tatum, as well as paperwork pertaining to Clovis Spirit’s LLC and Saints and Sinners, LLC.
After the argument with Magic Mike has been handled, Dewan said that the other problems would be able to be resolved. After some time had passed, she said that they had struck a custody arrangement about their daughter in January of 2020.
In November of 2019, a court ruled that the two individuals were legally single.
The ruling was made by the judge two months after Dewan made the announcement that she and Kazee, who is now her fiance, were expecting their first child together from their relationship.
In February of 2020, the pair announced that they were engaged, and during the following month, they became parents to a boy named Callum Michael Rebel. An announcement that they are expecting their second child together, which will be Dewan’s third, was made in January of this year.
Since the breakup, Tatum has also moved on with his life and is now engaged to Zoë Kravitz.
During an interview on the cover of the February 2023 issue of Vanity Fair, Tatum discussed the divorce process in detail.
“In the beginning, it was super scary and terrifying,” he said to me. The axis of your life is about to make a turn. This entire strategy that you had literally just turns into sand and runs through your fingers, and you are just like, ‘Oh, s—. What now?’ as you walk through it.
Having said that, the actor made the observation that “It was probably exactly what I needed.”
“I don’t think I would’ve ever done the work, I think, on myself in the way that I had to do the work on myself to really try to figure out what next,” Tatum further said.