Published Monday, 25 June 2012
The Dear John hunk stripped for cash in his teens and his raunchy former role is the inspiration behind upcoming movie Magic Mike.
Two of the star's fellow former dancers have slammed Tatum, alleging he based the plot on their past rather than his own and used the dances they taught him in several scenes, insisting they should have been hired as consultants on the film.
But the star, who also produced the movie, insists his former colleagues have been trying to cash in on his fame for several years.
He tells The Hollywood Reporter: "Those guys have been trying to make money off of me since I got into this business.
"Look, there's nothing that's factual in this whole movie other than that I was an 18-year-old kid and went into this world and I dropped out of college from playing football and was living on my sister's couch. There's not one character that I took from my real life; this is just a world that I went into, and I had a perspective on. And we created everything from a fictional place."