The Magic's Gone! Why Channing & Jenna Called It Quits

The Tinseltown faves have been hiding a sad marriage secret

Hollywood isn’t exactly fertile growing ground for everlasting love, but it always seemed like Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan had a secret formula to maintain marital bliss in the bright lights of stardom.

It’s perhaps why millions of hearts broke when the red-carpet regulars, both 37, released a joint statement last week revealing they had “lovingly chosen to separate”, becoming the latest touched by the Tinseltown love curse.

And it was hardly a snap decision, Woman’s Day learns. “The writing has been on the wall for the past year or two,” discloses a pal of the couple.

“They have been leading virtually separate lives. If they weren’t married and didn’t have a kid, they would have split a long time ago. But their daughter was the glue that kept them together.”

And the couple, who have been married for almost nine years, kept the showmance going right until the last moment. At the end of March, they attended the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards with their four-year-old daughter Everly, looking every inch the happy family.

But less than two weeks later, on April 2, the pair posted the same message to their respective Instagram accounts, stating they were “just two best friends realising it’s time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled lives as possible”.