Channing Tatum explains how his 'terrifying' performance with Beyonce happened
Tatum competed against his wife, "Supergirl" actress Jenna Dewan-Tatum, on the show's second-season premiere episode. She brought on Paula Abdul during a performance of Abdul's 1980s hit "Cold Hearted." He would top her during the second round by dressing in drag and adding a surprise appearance by Sasha Fierce herself during "Run the World (Girls)."
But Channing Tatum told Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday's episode of her daytime talk show that he hadn't even met Beyoncé until she hit the stage.
"I had never even met her before," the actor said. "I won't even tell you what I had to do to essentially get her assistant's phone number, or text number. I was texting her."
Tatum said that he wasn't even trying to contact her for a cameo. He had heard "through the grapevine" that his wife was bringing Abdul. Believing that an appearance by Beyoncé would probably be impossible, he wanted to get the singer's permission to use a life-size cardboard cutout of her as a joke.
"Ultimately, I ended up having to meet Beyoncé doing Beyoncé and that was definitely the most terrifying thing I've ever done," Tatum, who hadn't even rehearsed with the superstar singer, said.
"She's like Keyser Söze," he told DeGeneres, referring to Kevin Spacey's character in "The Usual Suspects." "You never see her until all of a sudden you're just like, 'It happened! Wait, that was her, right?' And then you always know she's somewhere in the world [and] can reach out and touch you."
She left with a quick goodbye after filming "Lip Sync Battle," but Tatum revealed that she texted him later saying she wanted to hang out with him and his wife sometime - as long as he left the wig at home.
Watch Tatum tell the story to DeGeneres below: