Jenna Dewan is living her best life. But you wouldn’t know it, considering everything that she’s been through in the last several years. As much as she tried to save it, her marriage to actor Channing Tatum didn't last. After hitting rock bottom, she’s been trying to pick herself back up again and reinvent herself, both as a woman and as a celebrity in the spotlight. But it hasn’t always been easy. Some of her critics have lashed out at her for being too voyeuristic and without substance. To put it simply, it hasn’t been easy on her.

But that doesn’t mean that Jenna is the kind of person who will give up. It’s quite the contrary. She’s been making movies, raising her daughter as a single woman, still trying to make co-parenting work with her ex and pose for high-profile magazine covers at the same time. And she’s been doing everything with ease. At least, that’s how she makes it look from the outside. What goes on in the inside, we might never know.

With that being said, here are 20 things that Jenna has said and done in the past year. Check out our list below and let us know what you think!

20 Life Post-Divorce

No matter what happens between Jenna and her ex-husband Channing Tatum, she wants everyone to know that the two of them have their priorities straight. In other words, they are willing to set aside their differences for the sake of their daughter, Everly. They will always be a family of three, no matter what happens. “They’re amazing parents and are determined to stay a family,” says one source to People Magazine. “Their daughter is their world. This has been a long time coming. Like any marriage, they’ve had their ups and downs over the years but they really started to grow apart within the last year.”

19 Her Earlier Struggles

Channing has made it no secret that he isn’t always the easiest person to live with. In fact, it seemed like both Channing and Jenna had very different lifestyles way before they even got married. Jenna is all about living healthy and living her best life, while Channing loves to indulge whenever he can! Channing told GQ in 2014, “I have an inner fat kid in me . . . I can completely lose myself into just absolutely satisfying things — a really amazing cheeseburger, a pizza, good fries, a beer . . . I probably drink too much . . . My wife, that’s what she bought into.”

18 She Tried To Convert Him

Knowing that Channing loves his burgers, pizza, and fries, Jenna did her best to convert him and hopefully make him live a much healthier lifestyle. After all, she always needed him to be the best partner and father he could be for their daughter, Everly. But it wasn’t always easy. In fact, it was downright challenging at times. Speaking about how Channing tried to go Vegan in 2016, Jenna said, “He really did try to be vegan for six months. The guy doesn’t like vegetables, which makes it tough. It was hard in the beginning because you want someone to be on the same page, but you’ve gotta let people be themselves.”

17 Pulling The Plug

After a while, you just realize that things are not going to work, no matter how hard you try to make it work. That’s when Jenna and Channing decided it would be best to just pull the plug on their marriage. Speaking about the end of her marriage, Jenna told Vegas Magazine, “We started out as friends, and I would say it was an instant recognition. When we met [on the set of Step Up in 2005] it felt like we had known each other for many years. Ultimately, no matter what Chan and I are doing, we’re really great friends. I think that will never change, no matter what.”

16 She’s Living Her Best Life

If there is one thing that Jenna Dewan has, it’s confidence in who she is, how she looks like and where she is going in life. She loves how strong her body is and believes that’s one of her best assets. And from the looks of it, we would say that is true. She told Women’s Health Mag, “I really like to feel strong, and I like to feel curvy. And when I say ‘curvy,’ I mean ‘muscular.’ In the gym, I add more weight rather than increasing my reps because I want to build muscle, so I can pick up my daughter. Before, it used to be like, ‘I wanna get long, lean muscles.’ Now, I’m just like, ‘I wanna feel strong and good.”

15 She’s Been Down This Road Before

Splitting up with your partner is never easy. But for Jenna, she’s seen all of this before. She told People Mag, “My parents split up when I was a year old, and due to life circumstances, [my mother] had to pick herself up, get a job and become a single working mom. [Moving so frequently] completely informed my life [and] personality in very positive ways. I learned social skills I don’t think I would have [with] a different upbringing. In a lot of ways I am really grateful for it. I’m also very conscious and aware of it, so it’s something that [explains] how I am, who I am, and probably greatly prepared me for life in Hollywood.”

14 What You See is What You Get

When it comes to Jenna, to put it simply, what you see is what you get. She’s got nothing to hide and admits that she looks just like every other mom, especially when it comes to her morning routine. And she’s not afraid to admit that she or her life isn’t perfect, either. "I’m a total mess," Dewan told Harper’s Bazaar back in May. "I’ve never once woken up early with enough time to get ready before I get my daughter to school… My hair’s always wet, I’m always changing clothes. I mean, it’s always a little haphazard in my life."

13 She Never lost Her Passion

Sure, being a Hollywood star is part of Jenna Dewan’s daytime job. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that her real passion is in dancing. She’s been a dancer all of her life and loves dancing in front of the cameras. In other words, it’s who she really is. She told People Mag, “It fulfills my soul on a level that most work and jobs do not because dance is my true passion. It’s always been something at the root of who I am; it’s in my blood. I did not see this job coming, and I didn’t know what to expect because I never really had the intention of hosting, ever. [But] I’m in a place in my life where I’m ready to say yes.”

12 Her First Impression Of Channing

While things didn’t work out the way they were supposed to between her and Channing, Jenna admits that she did have a great first impression of her ex-husband. As a matter of fact, they clicked rather fast. The chemistry was most definitely there and between them. She says that it was electrifying and one of the reasons why it was so easy to fall in love with him. Jenna told Harper’s Bazaar, "Chemistry is not always romantic, it's an ease. Can you talk to this person easily? And that, I knew, happened. I was like, ‘We can really talk to each other.'"

11 Transformations Since the divorce

But at the same time, Jenna admits that this last year has been hard. She’s had to reinvent herself, both personally and professionally, now that she doesn’t have Channing by her side. She told Women’s Health, “It’s been a journey, and it’s been a transformation of myself – my needs and wants as a woman. I think everyone wants to hold on to what’s in front of them, but when you open your mind saying, ‘I want what’s best for myself and my daughter,’ you have to be okay with however that looks. I feel like I’ve been on a wave of growth. It does look different; it’s a new normal, and I really think we’ll get used to that.”

10 Getting busy with Projects

Luckily, Jenna has been keeping very busy especially when it comes to her Hollywood projects, movies, and deals. She’s hotter now than she has ever been before. And she’s excited about what the future holds for her, too because she knows it’s going to be great. Speaking about her latest project, Mixtape, she told People Mag, “It’s a mixture between the drama of This Is Us and the musical, fantastical element of La La Land. Those are two of my favorite projects you could have ever thought to combine together. It’s emotional and deep, and also adds in this really fun element of music and lip-syncing.”

9 A Growing sense of Maturity

Jenna says that one of the reasons why she’s managed to get this far is because dancing has taught her to be both disciplined and resilient. If it weren’t for her years of dancing, who knows where she would be today. It’s helped her achieve her success. She told Vegas Magazine, “Being a dancer, you’re ingrained with this mentality to make it work, and you can do it all, but as I matured… and had a child, I’ve realized that you do the things you’re meant to do. You have to protect that and trust that even though you’re saying no to things, there are a ton of other, better yeses that will be coming.”

8 She's Seeking Answers

Despite the demise of her marriage, Jenna admits that she gave it her all. But at the same time, she’s seeking answers. She still doesn’t know what happened, or how things ended the way it did. "The moves I'm making are completely not related to my marriage or separation, interestingly enough. I was always very happy being a wife," Dewan told Harper’s Bazaar, but bigger questions were looming, like "'Who are you? What do you want to give to the world? What excites you?' Those feelings started bubbling up for me, naturally… so I really wanted to expand my life, and myself. And that was my journey, no one else's."

7 Constant stream of Changes

But for Jenna, she’s used to having so many changes in her life. After all, she moved more times than she can count while she was growing up. Jenna told Harper’s Bazaar, “I was always the new kid. Every single city I moved to, the first day of school was such an event for me because I had no idea who anyone was… I'd walk into these classrooms, and it was literally like the record stopped. And they were like, 'Who's this fresh meat?' Everyone else was in No Fear T-shirts and Doc Martens, I'll never forget. And here I come in, in my matching Limited Too outfit with my hair all done, the gel blush. I was so girly."

6 All about her daughter

What’s next for Jenna Dewan in her life? No one really knows. In fact, Jenna herself doesn’t know what her next step in life will be. For now, she’s taking it easy and focusing on her life with her daughter Everly. She told Women’s Health, “It’s always challenging to go through a big change and have the whole world have an opinion about it…It’s okay for a relationship to change into a new form that is actually better for both people involved, and I think maybe that’s what shocked everyone so much – that it can be a positive thing. That was ultimately what happened with us.”

5 But She’s Staying True To Herself

If there’s one thing that Jenna will always do, it’s stay true to herself. And when you are a Hollywood star in the celebrity spotlight, that’s not always easy. And if there is someone who knows that, it’s Jenna. But she’s not the kind of person who would ever give up on herself. She knows what she wants out of life. She told Women’s Health, “I did a lot of work healing from the inside out, becoming more in touch with my womanly power. It was always ‘I’m a dancer,’ or ‘I’m married,’ or ‘I’m an actress.’ Over the last couple of years, it became about learning about myself.”

4 Her most important role, Motherhood

Jenna’s role as an actress, and entertainer and a dancer is very important to her. But if there is a role that is most important in her life, it’s that as a mother. Being a mother to her daughter Everly will always take priority above all else in her life. She told Women’s Health, “Apparently, when you become a mother, you’re supposed to leave your sexuality at the door, and I never understood that. I think there’s nothing sexier than becoming a mother. You give life. It’s everything. And you don’t change who you are inside just because you have a kid.”

3 She’s staying Optimistic

You won’t find Jenna Dewan sitting at home and crying about her life, or at least the things that went wrong in her life. Oh no. She’s quite the optimistic woman and she sees the positive in everything. She’s also looking forward to the future and what lies ahead for her personal life, and of course, her career. Jenna told Harper’s Bazaar, "I feel a sense of joy and freedom and excitement, truly, about a new chapter in my life. And I have no attachments to how that's going to look, or what that's going to be. I feel really open, and I feel hopeful."

2 Embracing her femininity

If there is something else that is important to Jenna, it’s knowing that she’s got back up from her friends. And from the looks of it, that’s one part of her life that has always been consistent. She knows who her friends are. Jenna told Harper’s Bazaar, "At the end of the day, the whole point is women coming together, and supporting each other, and connecting, and bonding. We have these crazy lives… I think as I've gotten older, it sounds cliché, but it’s more important to have a really solid group of girls that are there for me, who get me."

1 Knowing What’s Next

Of course, no one can predict what’s next in their lives, regardless of who you are or where you come from. But for Jenna, she’s got a plan. She knows that things won’t always work in her favor, but that’s not stopping her from living her best life. She told Harper’s Bazaar, "Whether you try and hide it or not, most actresses and actors have a certain sense of anxious desperation about what their next job is. As soon as I had Everly, it went away. I had this freedom of, 'Well, I could never work another day in my life, and I have a purpose.'"

References: Harper's Bazaar, Vegas Magazine, People Magazine, Women's Health