Channing Tatum Is Working on a Romance Novel
Sex & Dating

Channing Tatum Is Working on a Romance Novel

Channing Tatum wants you to know that he's way more than a sexy hunk with glistening abs that stars in movies, he's a sexy hunk with glistening abs that writes books too!

In a new cover story for Vanity Fair, Tatum opens up about distancing himself from his Hollywood heartthrob image, closing out the Magic Mike franchise and growing close with Zoë Kravitz. However, it was the news that the actor was writing a “fun and sexy” romance novel with Roxane Gay that happened to pique our interest.

To be fair, if you blinked you could easily miss Jessica Pressler's brief mention of the project's existence amidst the Bad Feminist and Hunger author's praise of Tatum's wokeness. “For whatever reason, he is intimately aware of his privilege,” Gay remarks. “He doesn’t apologize for it, which is, frankly, refreshing. Like, you’re an absurdly attractive famous wealthy white man. Please don’t pretend that isn’t great. But he treats people well.” That being said, apart from the passing confirmation that this romance novel collaboration exists, neither Gay nor Tatum go on to share any further details about the book.

Upon a little digging, it turns out that romance novel has been a thing since at least 2017 when Gay revealed to The Advocate that not only was Tatum a fan of her work, but they were actually working together on a new project. "I thought my friends were playing a joke on me," Gay toldThe Advocate's podcast, explaining that she feared her agent was leaving her when she first emailed her about the project. "And so, things proceeded, and then she gave me an address and said, 'Go here at such and such time.' And I said, 'Okay.' It was around my birthday, so I just thought, My friends are hilarious. They're putting together this surprise party, even though I hate surprise parties, and they're using this ruse of Channing Tatum. I went up into the hills, and he was standing on his front balcony. I was just like, 'Oh, I'm pregnant.' It was really good."

And while Gay didn't let many specifics about the project slip apart from the fact that "it's really good," it's nice to know that the book is still a thing six years later. It's worth pointing out that this top-secret romance novel wouldn't be the first book Tatum's written. It turns out that Tatum is already the author of a series of New York Times-bestselling children's books with his most recent one, The One and Only Sparkella Makes a Plan, having been written during quarantine for his eight-year-old daughter, Everly.

Photo via Getty/Kelly Defina