Jenna Dewan, formerly known as Jenna Dewan Tatum, is excited for the arrival of her second child, her first child with boyfriend Steve Kazee. And as the soon-to-be mom of two told People, her oldest child, daughter Everly, who she shares with ex-husband Channing Tatum, is also thrilled about being a big sister.
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According to the actress, “It was excitement all around. Everywhere excitement. [Everly] said she’s waited her whole life for a sibling. ‘I’ve waited my whole life for this, Mom.’ It is so cute.”
In fact, the 6-year-old is so excited about her younger sibling’s arrival that she wants everyone to know about it. Dewan told People that Everly has been pulling her shirt up in public to show strangers her growing belly.
“She is going around lifting up my shirt to literally anyone, and goes, ‘I’m going to be a big sister! Did you know there’s a baby in my mommy’s belly? Do you want to touch it?’ She will just lift up my shirt. She kisses [my belly].”
Dewan said she has always wanted to expand her family and give Everly a younger sibling. Even during her divorce to her first husband, actor Channing Tatum, she held out hope for the chance to became a mother of two. “And so the second I knew, I was thrilled with it.”
In the same interview with People, Dewan also opened up about her split with Tatum, who she was married to for nine years after meeting on the set of Step Up in 2006.
“It was a hard journey of growth and change. Ultimately now I can honestly say that I’m living in a very joyful new place in my life, and I’m happy about it. I always say no one gets married to hopefully get divorced.”
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She admitted that whatever led to their separation, and ultimately their divorce, didn’t happen overnight. Dewan said that it “gutted” her when they came to the decision to go their separate ways.
“I was just gutted. It was so difficult for me. It was the loss of an idealistic future for myself and my life. What does that now look like for me? Where do I begin? I met him when I was 24, I didn’t know life without Chan.”
And while the break up was difficult and something she never expected would happen, Dewan says she’s happy with her life the way it is now.
The former couple is continuing to grow into their new normal and is working to become successful co-parents to Everly, who Dewan says in their number one priority in all of this. “It wasn’t easy necessarily, to get here, which nothing is easy in life, right?”