Watch: How Jenna Dewan, Channing Tatum’s Daughter Everly Reacted to Her ‘Dancing With the Stars’ Casting
Jenna Dewan scored major mom points for joining Dancing With the Stars.
The Step Up alum—mom to 13-year-old Everly Tatum with ex Channing Tatum—agreed to become a season 35 contestant in great part due to her eldest child being a super fan of the show.
“She was a huge reason why I was so excited to do this, because she loved the show so much. We came to the finale last year,” Jenna exclusively told E! News’ Will Marfuggi after the Sept. 16 premiere. “I received the offer, and I knew if I say this too loud, she’s gonna freak out.”
But after getting the call to join, Jenna couldn’t keep it a secret from Everly for long.
“I went to the corner of her room, and I saw her head go, ‘Did you just get offered Dancing With the Stars?'” Jenna recounted. “She was like, ‘Please, Mom, I love this.'”
It became even more special when Jenna debuted on the Sept. 16 premiere with pro Val Chmerkovskiy as Everly watched from the audience.
And while making her firstborn—followed by kids Callum, 6, and Rhiannon, 2, with fiancé Steve Kazee—proud onstage was Jenna’s main objective for the evening, she also felt pressure as a professional dancer who has toured with Ricky Martin and Justin Timberlake to nail her routines in the ballroom.
“Of course, I feel some pressure for sure, and expectation to really bring it. But it’s also mostly my own,” she told E!. “I just wanted to live as much as I could live and feel as good as I could feel and give the best performance. So, the pressure really was more coming from that place.”
Indeed, her partner Val admitted in their joint interview, “I don’t want those sixes,” referring to their opening scores. But he also noted that it was fair for the judges to review the actress’ routines with a stricter lens because of her background.
Disney/Andrew Eccles
“Yes, it’s a dance show, but it’s also a human experience that people want to see growth,” the choreographer shared. “They want to see participation. They want to see expansion of one’s abilities, and and they want to see it in real time, live every single week.”
As such, the season is filled with fierce competition as Jenna tries to out-dance her costars, including Glee‘s Harry Shum Jr. and Love Island‘s Maura Higgins, who both scored 21 out of 30 points, two of the season’s highest scores thus far.
Read on for a look at the rest of the celebrity competitors.
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Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
Disney/Andrew Eccles
