Channing Tatum Revealed Why He Almost Quit Acting In 2018, And It Makes A Lot Of Sense

    "Do I want to act anymore?"

    Channing Tatum is a superstar actor whose career includes tons of memorable movies — but maybe you've noticed that you haven't seen him in much over the past few years.

    Tatum looks in the distance while at a red carpet event rocking a tuxedo

    As it turns out, his not-unnoticeable absence from the silver screen has been very intentional.

    Tatum waves to a crowd while standing behind bushes lining the red carpet of an event

    In a recent interview with Variety, Tatum opened up about why he stepped away from acting for a bit — and how he almost put it aside entirely.

    Tatum smiles at an event

    Tatum said that he considered giving up acting in 2018, shortly after his split from Jenna Dewan.

    Tatum smiles while wearing a camouflage shirt

    "Do I want to act anymore?" he recalled feeling at that time. "Was I going to direct? Do I want to be in the industry anymore? I got lucky. I won a creative lottery ticket. I made a little bit of money, so I could take a step back and figure out what life is.”

    Tatum poses for a photo with his hand in his pocket while wearing a suit

    “I really took time off. I sculpted. I took pictures. I wrote my own stuff, not like a script or anything. Just creating on different levels. I wanted to take a breather.”

    Tatum poses for a photo

    Tatum also cited a crushing work schedule that included 22 Jump Street from 2014 and 2015's commercial flop Jupiter Ascending as a reason for taking time off. “I took four movies back to back without any time off," he said. "I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be in those last two movies because I didn’t have the energy.”

    Tatum leans over while sitting down in a scene from Jupiter Ascending

    If you've missed Channing during his hiatus, fear not — he's coming back soon! Very soon! Specifically: in the new action comedy The Lost City, which is out in theaters on March 25. Sandra Bullock's in it too. Here's the trailer.

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    Read the entire profile of Tatum here.