Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are Clashing Over How to Split his Magic Mike Earnings in Divorce Proceedings

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

By Amber Raiken | MSN

Former couple Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan are currently clashing over how to split the profits from one of the actor’s biggest movie franchises, Magic Mike.

According to court documents obtained by People, Dewan is arguing that she should receive some of the profits that Tatum gained from the franchise, as they were still married when he filmed Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL. The former couple tied the knot in 2009, before announcing their split in 2018. They also share a now 10-year-old daughter, Everly.

In the divorce proceedings, Dewan’s lawyers argued that Tatum’s movies for the franchise were his “big break”, while alleging that Magic Mike – and the film’s “extremely lucrative” offshoots – were “developed and co-financed by Channing during marriage with community effort and marital funds”.

Dewan also alleged that Tatum and his legal team “created a complex web of LLCs, holding companies, and partnerships” to “dilute and conceal the value of, and licensing income therefrom, the community property share of Magic Mike intellectual property”.

The dancer’s legal team is asking for a separate trial to discuss how to divide assets in the divorce, as the lawyers are pushing to prove that Tatum allegedly “colluded” to keep the Magic Mike income from Dewan.

However, the Dear John star disputed this argument in the divorce filing, claiming that “he never denied Petitioner of her share of the community assets or income”.

Tatum’s legal team noted that they need to schedule a trial without a “last minute” postponement and that the actor has “exhausted all efforts in an attempt to settle this matter without litigation”.

After starring in the first Magic Mike movie, which came out in 2012, Tatum went on to appear in 2015’s Magic Mike XXL and last year’s Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Tatum’s legal team argued that while his work with the enterprise began when he was still married to Dewan, he “continued to create and develop [it] since separation”.

The lawyers added that Tatum has “expended extensive efforts since separation towards the enhancement of the Magic Mike intellectual property and related entities, which [Tatum] contends give rise to his separate property interest therein”.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Tatum and Dewan for comment.

The former couple have since moved on to separate relationships, as Tatum is currently engaged to Zoë Kravitz. Meanwhile, Dewan has been dating Steve Kazee since October 2018, six months after she and Tatum announced their split. ​​Dewan and Kazee share a four-year-old son, Callum, and they’re currently expecting another baby.

Dewan and Tatum have both been open about the split since announcing their divorce in 2018. In her 2019 memoir, Gracefully You: How to Live Your Best Life Everyday, Dewan wrote about the reason why the marriage came to an end.

“I’d come to realise the dynamic I was in wasn’t serving me nor was it serving my daughter,” Dewan wrote, as reported by People. “First and foremost I had to accept the realisation this isn’t working and had moved into hurting.”

During an interview with Vanity Fair, Tatum explained that while he and Dewan “fought for it for a really long time”, they knew they “had sort of grown apart”.

“I think we told ourselves a story when we were young, and we just kept telling ourselves that story, no matter how blatantly life was telling us that we were so different,” he said. “But when you’re actually parents, you really understand differences between the two of you. Because it is screaming at you all day long. How you parent differently, how you look at the world, how you go through the world.”

He then acknowledged the divorce was “probably exactly what [he] needed”, since it allowed him to focus on himself and prioritise his daughter Everly.

“I just dropped everything and just focused on her. And it was truly the best possible thing that I ever could have done,” he added. “Because in the alone time that I have with just me and her, we’ve become best friends.”

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