There are plenty of reasons to love Channing Tatum.
There’s his chiseled jawline. And his abdominal muscles. And those biceps.
And the way he so clearly loves and respects his wife.
Above all, however, there’s Tatum’s view on fatherhood, his overwhelming love for his daughter and the valuable life lessons he wants to pass along to little Everly.
The 37-year old recently wrote an essay for Cosmopolitan in which he thought back to his first meeting with Jenna Dewan Tatum and how he hopes their daughter inherits her mother’s attitude.
“In honor of the launch of Magic Mike Live in Las Vegas, my friends at Cosmo generously invited me to write something for you,” the actor explains to open his post.
He then brings the subject immediately to his four-year old at home:
“The more I thought about this, the more I thought about my daughter reading this article someday. I pictured her in her late teens or early 20s, hoping to explore and discover her sexuality and dreaming about finding true love.”
Continues Tatum, making us adore him more and more with each word:
“I tried to imagine the things I’d want her to read that would help her understand men and sex and partnership better, and at that moment, I realized a strange thing.
“I don’t want her looking to the outside world for answers.
“My highest hope for her is just that she has the fearlessness to always be her authentic self, no matter what she thinks men want her to be.
Channing met Jenna on the set of the film Step Up.
They’ve been together for over a decade.
And you never read a single scandalous story about these two, do you?
“I knew our connection was really powerful, but I wasn’t sure what our relationship was going to be,” Tatum says of first encountering his wife.
“Then one day, Jenna just blurted out that she knew exactly what she wanted in life and she didn’t have to look for it anymore because it was me. She had no idea what I’d say or how I’d react, but that was her truth.
“I remember feeling this incredible rush – it was the sexiest thing she’d ever done for me. I felt strength, because in that moment, she had accepted every part of me, the good and the bad.
“And I knew she wasn’t auditioning me or hoping I’d meet some set of expectations.”
Taum goes on to say it was this quality that made him fall for Jenna (who looks great naked).
“That radical authenticity of hers was what made me fall head over heels in love. Before I experienced it, I wouldn’t have known how to ask for it. Now I know it’s what I was always craving.
“And that’s what I want for my daughter – to be expectation-less with her love and not allow preconceived standards to affect her, to ask herself what she wants and feel empowered enough to act on it.”
Are you crying yet?
Just you wait…
“If there’s one thing that I think men wish women knew, it’s just that they alone are enough,” Channing writes, adding:
“When more women start to truly feel this power in themselves, the world will become so magical, it makes my head hurt.”
Tatum concludes by saying he’s grateful that women “are realizing that they no longer have to conform to certain standards of social and sexual behavior, and this changes what they need from men and the role of men in general.”
Why did he turn Magic Mike into a live show?
“Because I wanted to create a space where we could really explore these themes in a fun, provocative way,” he shares.
“I want women to feel what it’s like to exist in a world where men really listen to them, where they treat them like goddesses, and where they can feel comfortable and proud to express the full force of their sexual energy together.
“I want them to experience a place where they are much more than enough.”
All that AND you get to see hot male strippers dance?!?
Excuse us while we go buy some tickets.
