“At some point, I just can't stand it and I've got to stand up for myself.”
A Hollywood leading man and the author of Bad Feminist teaming up on a steamy romance novel sounds like a punchline. It’s not. Channing Tatum and writer Roxane Gay are deep into a co-written book that flips the celebrity vanity project on its head, and the origin story alone is worth your attention.
How a Celebrity Crush Became a Book Deal
The partnership started, as Gay put it, “in the most ridiculous way.”
“A journalist asked him if he knew that there was this writer who had a crush on him and wrote a book called Bad Feminist,” Roxane recently explained to Dua Lipa on the Service95 podcast. “And he was like, ‘Oh, I haven’t heard of it, but I’ll look into it.’”
He did look into it. And when someone approached him about doing a book project, “he was like, ‘Yes, I would love to, if I can co-write it with this person.’”
The Plot: A Marriage Pact with Heat
The book’s premise borrows from a real-world social phenomenon. Gay described the plot on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last year: “You know how so many people make these little pacts? Like, ‘If we both turn 40 and we’re still single let’s get married.’ So they actually get married and then they fall in love afterwards.”
Gay called it “A voluntary arranged marriage.” Then she added, laughing: “With lots and lots of sex in a bakery.”
As for the tone? “It’s very sexy. Lots and lots of sex.”
What Gay Says About Working with Tatum
Tatum had previous writing experience before this collaboration. He authored the Sparkella children’s book series, inspired by his and ex Jenna Dewan’s daughter Everly, 12. But co-writing adult romance with one of the sharpest cultural critics working today is a different arena entirely.
Gay has spoken openly about being impressed. “For whatever reason, he is intimately aware of his privilege,” she shared with Vanity Fair in 2023. “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.”
One concrete example: Tatum made sure he and Gay were equally paid for the project.
“To be clear, that is the right thing to do,” Gay noted. “And we shouldn’t give medals to people for doing the right thing, but at the same time, most people simply don’t do the right thing and it is notable when it happens.”
What We Still Don’t Know
Details remain scarce. There’s no official title yet. Which publishing house won the bidding war hasn’t been announced. Gay has mentioned the book is expected to drop hopefully next year, though nothing is set in stone.
That bidding war detail is telling on its own. Publishers competed for this one, which signals confidence in the commercial potential of the pairing.
