"She was like, 'What?' ... she calls me [the Sexiest Man Alive] now."
Tatum's wife said she couldn't agree more with the mag's pick.
"People know him to be fun and sexy, but they don't know how emotionally deep and spiritually open he is," she said of her husband of three years.
"He is such an open-hearted person; what you see is what you get."
The couple are ready to start passing down those hunky genes - they've got babies on the brain.
"I'm ready; I think she's ready," Tatum told People.
"The first number that pops into my head is three, but I just want one to be healthy and then we'll see where we go after that.
"It's really easy for us guys to say, 'I want like 15 kids.' Jenna will be like, 'Well you better get another wife!'"
Tatum has been sculpting his body for his latest role as an Olympic athlete in Foxcatcher.
"I like to be lean. If I get too bulky I can't move well and I like to move," he said of how he keeps his toned body in shape.
"When I'm not training, I get really round and soft."
Sexiest Man 2012: People magazine's honourable mentions
1. Channing Tatum
2. Blake Shelton
3. Chris Hemsworth
4. Max Greenfield
5. Ben Afleck
6. Richard Gere
7. Matt Bomer
8. Oscar Pistorius
9. Denzel Washington
10. Damian Lewis
11. Paul Rudd
12. Bradley Cooper
- www.nzherald.co.nz
