Channing Tatum And Jenna Dewan Tatum: Odd Things About Their Marriage

It's a rare woman who boasts about her extramarital smooching in front of the world, but clearly, Channing Tatum isn't the jealous type — so he didn't mind when Jenna posted a pic of herself locking lips with a llama on Instagram. She even gushed about the effects of the interaction, writing, "This kiss......! Swoon" (and considering what her usual makeout partner looks like, either Jenna has very particular feelings about wildlife or that llama must have had some serious skills).

Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum appeared to be one of Hollywood's most in-love couples — and they represented total relationship goals for most of the public. After all, they're gorgeous, they're gifted, and they were totally head over heels for one another. But even in their complete and total perfection, Jen and Chan have also had their little quirks just like any other couple. Unfortunately though, their oddball moments may have led to their eventual separation.

On April 2, 2018, Channing and Jenna announced via Instagram that they decided to call it quits on their seemingly perfect marriage. Though they noted that "absolutely nothing has changed" about how they feel about one another, obviously something led to their big split. Keep reading to learn all about the weird things in Channing and Jenna's nearly nine years of marriage — some of which could have been warning signs that the couple would eventually head for divorce.

The number one wildest thing about Jenna and Channing's relationship? The press knew they were getting serious at practically the same time they did. After falling for each other while filming Step Up, the now-former couple spent a lot of time talking about each other on camera during the promotional tour for the film — and nobody could miss the fact that they were obviously and totally in luuuuuurve (just look at their body language in the interviews above. Have two people ever been so obviously smitten with each other?)

The resulting dynamic is something you don't see a lot in Hollywood. Where most celebrity couples tend to keep their private lives on the downlow as much as possible, Jenna and Channing have always been extremely open about basically every aspect of their relationship. Some marriages might implode under all that public pressure, but these two seemed to just fall more and more deeply in love with every joint appearance, interview, or intimate moment shared on Instagram — or at least that's what we thought. Maybe the spotlight on their romance led to some serious marital problems.

Some Hollywood couples like to keep their professional and personal lives completely and totally separate, but not only did Jenna and Channing love to mix business with pleasure, Jenna also apparently enjoyed an unprecedented level of control over the specific details of Channing's on-screen attire... not to mention those of his movie co-stars. If you've been wondering who you can thank for all of those epic shots of beefy butt cheeks in Magic Mike, you can rest easy knowing that it was none other that Channing's wife. Yep, it was Jenna Dewan-Tatum. According to Channing, she felt so strongly on the subject that her opinion changed the whole script.

"That was going to be one of our plot points: To thong or not to thong," the actor, who boasts a not-so-secret past as a stripper, told Vanity Fair. "But my wife was like, 'You cannot have a movie without these guys getting in thongs.'"

Damn straight.

While Jenna's two cents certainly helped make Magic Mike successful, we have to wonder if Channing would have rather she have kept her mouth shut...

What kind of weirdo darts out of the photographer's frame like a shot, just so her husband can cozy up for a pic with mega-hottie Mila Kunis? The best kind, obviously. Jenna and Channing were used to stepping back so the other could shine — and needless to say, being jealous of sexy starlets (or hunky leading men, for that matter) is an obvious no-go when you both work in Hollywood — but the intuitive, gracious way that this couple took turns in the spotlight was unusual even by normal-person standards.

So unusual that maybe it was a warning sign of bad things to come. After all, isn't a little bit of jealousy in a relationship a good thing? While trust is crucial for couples to stay together, shouldn't people feel just the tiniest bit threatened by others? It's only natural! We're wondering if Channing and Jenna simply hid their jealousy from one another — and that couldn't have been good for their marriage.

Remember when Jenna and Channing faced off in an epic televised lip sync battle — beginning with Jenna's mocking sendup of Channing's mind-blowing Magic Mike dance routine and ending when Beyoncé made a surprise cameo to bring home the win for the be-wigged, faux-breasted, booty-shaking Channing? Well, you should because that totally happened! And it was insane.

While this particular celebrity-studded, cross-dressing madness was likely not representative of how conflicts ordinarily went down in the Dewan-Tatum household, it did give fans an inside look at just how competitive Jenna and Channing were — and how far they were both willing to go to win a fight.

Speaking about the pair's appearance on Lip Sync Battle, Quentin Tarantino, who directed Channing in The Hateful Eight, confessed that both stars are pretty dang cutthroat. "I know both of them are fierce competitors ... and I know that they both want to win," he said.

Sounds like Jenna and Channing would do anything for a victory.

If you've followed Channing Tatum on Instagram, you might have noticed that he has posted a lot of adorable and affectionate shout-outs to Jenna — usually accompanied by a pic of her looking gorgeous, per usual. But here's where it gets weird: Channing rarely, if ever, called Jenna by name in these public, digital displays of affection, and he didn't go in for traditional pet names like "honey," "sweetie," or "babe." Instead, he referred to Jenna by a more unusual nickname: "Cake."

So, what's the origin of this moniker? The world can only guess (we're thinking it's probably got something to do with the relative deliciousness of Jenna's bod,) but regardless, Channing and Jenna have definitely kept it offbeat.

While pet names are usually sickeningly adorable, maybe Channing should've called Jenna by her real name more often. Though we'd never claim that his nicknames for Jenna caused them to split, we can't help but speculate that maybe Jenna got sick of being called a baked good.

Proof positive that Channing Tatum is the best kind of weirdo — he once gave Jenna a spa-quality pedicure. In the week leading up to Mother's Day 2016, Jenna hopped on Snapchat to give her fans a glimpse of Channing giving her piggies the royal treatment, beginning with the removal of her old polish and ending with a slightly unorthodox drying method. Who needs a heat fan when you've got a hunky man to blow your toes dry, anyway?

Not that anyone is complaining, but in a world where most dudes don't know a crackle finish from an acrylic wrap, Channing is definitely an oddity, and Jenna definitely knew it. "Yes, you guys, he is this awesome," she wrote at the time.

Too bad Channing's expert pedicures weren't enough to save their marriage — though we'd bet that they were a compelling reason for Jenna to want to stick with him. Guess she'll just have to find a nail salon.

What do traditional Mexican hats have to do with falling in love? For most couples, the answer is "not much," but for Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum, the answer is everything. When the two have told the story of how they got together, they never, ever fail to mention Channing's headgear at the pivotal moment. Recalling that particular night, Channing told Elle magazine in 2013 that after some prompting from a pal, he decided to make a pretty major move. "That night I showed up at her hotel room with a sombrero on, and that was it," he said.

Meanwhile, Jenna's version includes the hat but also goes into more detail. She told Cosmopolitan, "He came down drunk with a sombrero on, banging on my door. He was like, 'I couldn't stop thinking about you. Let's do this. I just want to be with you.'"

So where did Channing get the sombrero? Well, apparently he used the five-finger discount. "We were drinking at a Mexican joint and I stole it off the wall," he explained.

Classy.

Anyone who's ever seen Step Up knows Jenna and Channing have some serious moves on the dance floor. But what you might not realize is exactly how that translated to steamy fun while doing the horizontal mambo — a connection that Jenna was once all too happy to explain.

In an interview with Cosmopolitan in 2016, she said, "We definitely have a very happy and healthy [love life]. Something about being a dancer connects you to your physical body. It's primal, earthy, sexual energy by nature. You feel your body in a certain way. Channing is very much the same way. He's very in tune with that."

We'll give you a few minutes alone to cope with the revelation that Channing is "primal" and "earthy" in bed (admit it; you need a moment.)

Lots of married couples try to abide by the well-known edict to "never go to bed mad," but Jenna and Channing used to take it to a whole new level. According to Channing, the two would always put their love life on pause if there was a conflict afoot because they didn't want any bad juju coming between them between the sheets. That didn't just make them odd; it made them smart, too.

"That's how we know there's something we have to talk about, that we have to solve ... whatever's between us energetically, before we can sort of get down," Channing explained to Cosmopolitan. "For lack of a better term, we don't hate f**k each other. That's just not what we do."

While Channing and Jenna's marriage may be no more, at least the two can take this particular nugget of relationship wisdom to any future relationships they may have.

Everyone gets busy — it's just a part of life, but few couples have to actually carve out time to spend with one another. When asked by Health magazine if she and Channing had to make time to be, ahem, intimate together, Jenna replied that they hadn't needed to arrange sexy time — not at that point in time, at least.

"A lot of people ask me that. We have not yet scheduled sex, but we do schedule time together, so maybe that is sort of scheduling sex," the Witches of East End star stated. "We will go away for a weekend to get time, but we have no real regimented schedule."

Interestingly, she added, "We've never done that — it might actually be a good idea."

Making time for your significant other is always a good idea, but if a person actually has to arrange moments to show their spouse affection ... well, that doesn't sound like a good time for anybody.

Many celebrities aren't afraid to get nasty when it comes to breaking up, but that just wasn't the case for Channing and Jenna. In fact, though their marriage ended, the two claimed to still have strong feelings for one another. In their Instagram posts announcing their separation, the former Step Up co-stars stated, "We fell deeply in love so many years ago and have had a magical journey together. 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."

Their joint statement went on, "There are no secrets or 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."

While we're all for breaking up amicably – or conscious uncoupling — it almost seems like Channing and Jenna ended things too well. Obviously, they couldn't still love each other the same way if they're breaking up, right?

Perhaps the strangest things about Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum's marriage was that they just couldn't make it work. While we're sure the couple tried to stay together — if only for their shared daughter, Everly — the celeb pair eventually called it quits. Though their breakup wasn't announced until early April 2018, Channing and Jenna had reportedly been leading separate lives for quite some time before news of their split broke, according to People magazine.

Still, the once-seemingly perfect pair had made public appearances together, hitting the orange carpet for the Kids' Choice Awards in late March 2018. Guess that just goes to show that Channing and Jenna were actually serious about their love for one another.

While we totally want these two superstars to be happy — even if that means calling it quits on their marriage — we hope that Channing and Jenna will find their way back to one another eventually. If they don't... well, hopefully they can remain friends after their divorce .