Jenna Dewan Talks About Life After Her Very Public Split and Her New Love
The rumors are true. Jenna Dewan has found real love again. There’s just one difference between what the tabloids have been breathlessly reporting and the actual facts: She does have a new bae in her life...but he’s a dog named Cosmo (yes, named in part for this Cosmo, for which she always dreamed of being a cover star). "He’s my new boyfriend," she says of her rescue, a Catahoula-Labrador mix. "He's really sweet. He gives me lots of kisses."
Puppy love aside, the 38-year-old has had quite a year. Shortly after cementing their status as an iconic couple with a viral Lip Sync Battle, Jenna and her movie-star husband of nine years, Channing Tatum, announced they were uncoupling. The internet wept. So did Jenna.
"People are like, 'How do you get through this?'" she says over lunch at the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills. "I didn't run away from my feelings. I let myself cry. I let myself grieve. This is one of those situations where I will see the light. The dawn is coming." That dawn is bringing another new beginning: Jenna, in the spotlight-on her own.
Of course, the transition hasn’t been totally seamless so far. The former Mrs. Dewan Tatum (at the time of this interview, she was still listed in the Polo Lounge reservation system with both last names) knows where her fame stems from. "I'm obviously super aware that people know me, they know Channing, they know us together," she says. "We'd been a beloved couple for a long time. I was in Berlin and people were like, 'We love your Lip Sync Battle!' I was like, oh my god. You mean the time when I humped my husband-at-the-time’s face? I'm so glad that's my calling card."
So her solo reinvention has been gradual. Although not too gradual. See: her newly jam-packed IMDB page, full of movies (the romantic Berlin, I Love You; the comedic The Wedding Year) and series (Fox’s hit medical drama The Resident; Netflix's musical dramedy Mixtape, in which Jenna plays the co-lead). Her days have gotten so swamped that she had to drop all her hosting duties on the reality competition show World of Dance. Oh, and in her spare time, she’s focusing on Everheart, her production company that's currently developing film and TV projects.
Then there's her social life, filled with romantic rendezvous-at least according to those aforementioned tabloids. "Handsome" dates. "Heartthrob" dates. "Unknown" dates. One "new boyfriend," Broadway star Steve Kazee, was her latest rumored fling (at press time, at least), and it’s true that the pair has been photographed engaged in some full-on PDA. But according to Jenna herself, this magical world of lovers is pure fantasy. In truth, she says, she isn't ready to craft a clever dating profile just yet, although she’s definitely peeking at her hairstylist’s account on Raya, the dating app for boldfaced names. ("When she does my hair, I'm like, 'Give me the app!'" Jenna confesses. "I'm fascinated by it, and I stalk hers like crazy.")
Jenna’s hesitation is understandable. She met Channing when she was 24, and her idea of romance is old-school, of the destiny variety. "I do believe in love still, but I also believe it begins with really digging deep and learning how to love yourself," she says. "And then I think you sort of transmute that out to attract the right partner. I think that people who are meant to be sort of find each other."
If this comes across as a little woo-woo, that's just fine with Jenna. She's someone who gets her aura photographed. She loves Goop and listens to Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday podcast on the reg. As a little girl, she would freak her mom out by talking about angels. Her ideal New Year’s Eve would be with a group of friends somewhere far, far away on a metaphysical cleanse of sorts, a "soul journey."
"I've always been a little hippie, spiritual," she says. "I am very sensitive-what you would call an empath. I know what it feels like to overextend and to overgive in life. I give out so much energy constantly."
Which makes her next big step-starting a wellness-focused beauty line-feel downright logical. It’s safe to assume the secretive product launch (Jenna couldn’t reveal too much about it during her Cosmo interview) will take at least some inspiration from her dancer roots.
After all, dancing is still a major part of what makes Jenna feel sexy. (Not that it wasn’t also a factor in her previous life: She and Channing were known to drop hints that the combination of his stripper background and her incredible moves made for some steamy private time.) "When I'm feeling out of touch with myself, especially with my sexuality, I dance," she says. "I immediately drop back into my body, and I feel it’s where my sensuality lives. It’s kind of a carnal feeling when I dance."
It’s also how she bonds with her friends. In fact, Jenna has barely finished telling a story about a recent GNO-a party at an Atlanta speakeasy-when one of her famous pals appears. Kourtney Kardashian pops her head into Jenna’s secluded Polo Lounge spot to suggest a time to hang.
They make plans to assemble an all-star crew (Chrissy Teigen, Minka Kelly, and Khloé K. are invited) for another epic night. They exchange some banter about how annoying it is to be out at an L.A. nightclub where no one is actually dancing. But this is also why Jenna is always the perfect date. As Kourtney is quick to point out: “Oh, Jenna definitely dances.”
Of course she does.
Photographer: Dennis Leupold. Styled by: Yashua Simmons.
For more of Jenna, pick up the January 2019 issue on newsstands December 11, or click here to subscribe to the digital edition.
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