Channing Tatum's 'Protective' Dad Move Delayed This Big Step With Girlfriend Inka Williams

Channing Tatum is proving that his 12-year-old daughter Everly is his top priority.

The Magic Mike star shares his daughter with ex-wife Jenna Dewan, so bringing a new person into Everly’s life is a big deal. That’s why Tatum reportedly held off introducing the tween to girlfriend Inka Williams. A People source described him as a “very protective” parent to Everly.

“Channing’s also very protective of Everly,” the insider shared. “Inka didn’t meet her for a while. But they get along great now.” Fans saw Williams, Tatum, and Everly posing together at the Sept. 9 premiere of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle in Los Angeles, and it looked like the night went smoothly. (You can see the photo here.)

Tatum and Williams were first spotted together in February at a pre-Oscars event, and some people raised eyebrows over their nearly 20-year age gap — he’s 45, and the model is 26. Even though their relationship started just four months after Tatum’s split with fiancée Zoë Kravitz, Tatum and Williams were Instagram official by his birthday in April.

“Happy life to the handsomest, kindest, funniest, stoopidest most gorgeous human ever !!!” Williams wrote in her Instagram Story, accompanied by a collage of personal snapshots. “Merci for making life beautiful and fun.”

Even though Tatum and Williams seem to be all-in with their relationship, he opened up to Variety in a Sept. 2 interview about the lingering effects of his divorce from Dewan and how it’s impacted his life with Everly.

“Jenna and I are good now, but it was a painful break to have that fall apart, especially being so young,” he said. “We tried to keep it together, tried for a year and a half, but we knew it was… Not to go into all that. It’s in the past. But it’s really tough not to have your daughter half the time. I wish I could just have her all the time.”

Dewan has moved on with her life, too. She is engaged to actor Steve Kazee and they share two children, son Callum, 5, and daughter Rhiannon, 15 months. Still, co-parenting Everly in the best way possible is at the top of her mind, too.

“Like everything else in life, you learn as you go. You shift and evolve and you adapt to how life is presenting itself to you,” she told People in June 2024. “That includes getting the new normal of a blended family.”

“Kids always come first. How you feel about your kids,” she added. “How you treat your kids. Kids always come first above everything else.”

Their marriage might not have worked out, but Tatum and Dewan share the same sweet parenting philosophy for Everly.

Before you go, click here to see all the celebrities who have opened up about the struggles of co-parenting.