The '22 Jump Street' actor admits he did use drugs but insists he was never losing himself in his experimentation.
- Nov 6, 2014
AceShowbiz - Channing Tatum opens up about his past experimentation with drugs. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on its latest issue, the "Magic Mike" actor recalls his delinquent life during his stripper days.
"I wouldn't say I was losing myself in drugs because I wasn't doing anything habitually," he explains. "Just experimenting. Experimenting, I would say. Never the big ones - crack or heroin. I never OD'd or anything. Never."
He then admits that he did try cocaine "maybe a couple times, but that was later." "Drinking was probably the biggest [thing]," he says. "I didn't look at drinking as a problem. It wasn't at that point, and I still don't think it's a problem. But at that time in my life, it was, 'Let's go out and have a great time.' "
Tatum worked as a stripper when he was teen after dropping out of the University of South Florida and kept it secret until 2010 when he addressed it on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show". He remembers a conversation with his father after the latter watched the show.
"We were walking together, and my dad said: 'Why? You didn't need the money. We always provided,'" the actor recounts. "I told him it had nothing to do with him. That was my road. That was the road I had to take."
He also talks about his marriage and credits his wife Jenna Dewan Tatum for helping him at the beginning of his career. "I [had] a lot of anger in me. 'I hate this industry,' or whatever," he says. "Because it was frustrating. When things aren't easy, you go, 'Oh, I don't need this.' And I think [Jenna] made me realize that that was really just me being afraid."
The couple has their first child, a daughter named Everly. Asked if they plan to have more kids, he says, "I don't think very, very soon, but it really depends if Jenna's show ['Witches of East End'] gets picked up for a third season. Then we would probably wait." Lifetime recently announced the show would not be renewed.
