Channing Tatum, the heartthrob best known for his moves in ‘Magic Mike,’ is stepping into a new spotlight. He is teaming up with acclaimed author Roxane Gay to pen a romance novel to be released later this year.Their collaboration began in 2017 in a fun way. A reporter asked Tatum if she knew about Gay, who fell in love with her and wrote the book Bad Feminist. “A reporter asked if she knew of a writer who had a crush on her and wrote a book called ‘Bad Feminist,'” Roxane shared on the Lip 95 podcast. “He replied, ‘I haven’t found it, but I’ll check.'” And that’s what he did.Soon after, someone presented Tatum with a book idea. He jumped at the chance to co-write with Roxane Gay. Their creative bond grew quickly from there, leading to this exciting project.
The area mixes reality and heat
The story starts from real covenants that many make with friends. It follows two people who agree to marry if they are single at 40. They continue and find love later. “You know how people often make those pacts: ‘If we hit 40 and we’re still single, let’s get married.’ So they go through with the marriage and then they discover love,” Gay explained on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last year. “A marriage of choice. A lot of sex happens in a bakery.”Roxane Gay called it “so incredibly steamy”. The novel is “very, very vicious” and full of fun, he added in a recent interview.
Channing Tatum’s writing skills
Tatum already has experience with books. He wrote the children’s series Sparkella, inspired by his daughter Everly, 12, from his marriage to Jenna Dewan. Gay has praised his approach to all of their work. “For some reason, he has a deep understanding of his privilege. He doesn’t flinch, which is quite refreshing. He is an incredibly attractive, famous and rich white man. There’s no need to pretend it’s not beneficial. However, he treats people with kindness,” he told Vanity Fair in 2023.Tatum himself previously spoke about the project. “It’s almost an abbreviated outline of a story that we both love. We have to find time for it. He’s the busiest, busier than I am,” he said.
Fans lined up for the premiere
This marked Tatum’s leap into adult romance fiction following her children’s books. Gay sees it as a balance of his heavier issues like physical violence and racial injustice. “A lot of what I write is incredibly depressing and incredibly difficult… So I always try to balance the darkness with hope and light and joy,” he stated.The book arrives in late 2026, it promises warmth and heart. Fans of Tatum’s on-screen charm will love watching his words bring romance to life.
