Joey King Tells Channing Tatum How She Left Child Stardom Behind

The transition from child actor is a fraught one, but Joey King aced it. Since her early start in blockbusters, including a turn as a precocious preteen opposite Channing Tatum in White House Down, the 25-year-old L.A. native achieved peak Netflix stardom with The Kissing Booth trilogy, while showing her stuff in more prestige work like her portrayal of Gypsy Rose Blanchard in The Act. Next up is the sci-fi thriller Uglies, set in a dystopia where everyone is hot. To mark the occasion, we reunited her with Channing to talk about mood swings, perfect days, and trashy TV.

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WEDNESDAY 7:30 PM AUGUST 14, 2024 L.A.

CHANNING TATUM: Sorry, I’m here!

JOEY KING: I just got here, no worries! Hi!

TATUM: Hi, lovely girl!

KING: Thank you so much for doing this.

TATUM: Get out of here, bro.

KING: Truly though. I was very touched when you said yes. I was like, “Jesus Christ, he’s so fucking nice.” Oh wait, you’re frozen.

TATUM: Hold on a second. Let me try to get to a better place real quick. Any better?

KING: That’s great. You sound so defeated.

TATUM: I tried to have a Zoom earlier today and it was exactly the same thing. You get a few minutes in and you’re like, “Everything’s great.” And then it all goes to hell.

KING: Today I was on a Zoom and I wasn’t showing myself on camera, so I was trying to brush my teeth at the same time, but it kept cutting out because my bathroom doesn’t have good wifi. So frustrating.

TATUM: I love that while you’re on that call, you’re like, “Yo, I need to brush my teeth right now.” That’s real.

KING: It’s real goddamn life. So you froze when I was trying to give you a really earnest compliment. I don’t know if you heard any of it.

TATUM: I didn’t, and it’s probably better because I’ll shrink away.

KING: But really, I am so full—what just happened? It’s like every time I want to compliment you it starts freezing!

TATUM: It’s a magic talent I have. I physically am not allowed to accept anything other than just awkward stuff.

KING: I can do that, too.

TATUM: That’s how you and I relate. I’ve never done one of these for anyone, because I don’t know how, so this is going to be an interesting experiment.

KING: We’ll see. We’re six minutes in and not one question. [Laughs]

TATUM: We’re going to eat up all this time, girl. They ain’t going to have nothing by the end. [Laughs]

KING: No information whatsoever. [Laughs]

TATUM: Was that a good segue? Should I go in? Alright Joey, I’m going to start with something very generic, because I wanted to know this from you: What’s your perfect day?

KING: It’s a generic question, so I’m going to answer generically. My favorite day is Sunday, duh. I like having no plans, where me and my hubs wake up, have nothing on the docket, and can create a really nice day with random things. Either we go to the farmers market or maybe go on a little thrift shop spree or just hang out on the couch with the dogs and watch Love Is Blind: U.K. That’s my perfect day, building it as I go.

TATUM: That makes sense for you specifically. You could literally be dropped anywhere on the planet and just create one of the best possible days.

KING: I can be a real bitch sometimes, too. It’s rare, but I can.

TATUM: Look, I personally haven’t had that—

KING: I’m not a bitch at work. I can just be a real piece of work at home.

TATUM: Give me an example.

KING: I was fine today, but to be totally frank with you, I’m two days out from getting my Aunt Flo and I can be a handful.

TATUM: How does this land on your man?

KING: He’s so good about it. But for example, again, I was brushing my teeth a few weeks ago—

TATUM: Man, brushing teeth is a trigger point.

KING: I’m always brushing my teeth. [Laughs] No, it was my last cycle and as I started brushing, he was still brushing his, and I was like, “Love you.” He motioned that he was brushing his teeth or he’d respond and I was like, “Are you fucking kidding me?” I started a fight, and three minutes later I was like, “Wow, that was ridiculous.” [Laughs]

TATUM: So, another generic question: What’s your earliest memory?

KING: I’m not totally sure, but I think it was when I was around 3-ish years old. I was walking through a water park with my family and I was crying, and all of a sudden I’m conscious, you know what I mean? It was just like, now I’m experiencing memory.

TATUM: I love that your wake-up is at a water park.

KING: Another one was filming my first commercial, which was for Life cereal. I spilled the milk on set and everyone thought it was super cute, but I thought I did something wrong.

TATUM: Is there any point you can remember that you were like, “I need to actually be someone else.” For example, in school, depending on what group of people I was hanging out with, I would talk differently, I would be different.

KING: That’s a really good question. It’s one of those things that’s hard to contextualize because it might make me sound like I have identity problems.

TATUM: Everybody’s got identity problems, baby girl.

KING: I have lovely friends and each of them is different and I feel that my personality does not change, but it moves like waves depending on who I’m with. My humor might be catered more to this friend when I’m with them, and then my public persona when I’m interviewed—not like this, because I know you—that’s also a thing where your brain goes into a different gear.

TATUM: That’s what I mean. We all wear different masks, and it’s a fine tool. I do believe you even can have two best friends that are so much alike, but you’re going to be a slightly different person to each of them.

KING: And I always felt like, “Is that weird? Why am I like that?” It’s interesting that you brought it up, because now I realize that’s my way of showing up as a friend for different people.

TATUM: Yeah. My sister and I, that is one of my truest masks. We know each other like nobody else, and I’m sure you and your sisters know each other like nobody else.

KING: But it’s interesting because both sisters are so different that I want to hang out with them individually.

TATUM: See, that’s also something we don’t really talk about. You could literally be family, but you’re still going to give different people, in a way, to those folks, too. Do you ever feel like growing up you missed out on having the naughty “I’m allowed to go out and be an idiot, no one’s going to know about it” thing?

KING: I was such a goody-goody. My sister, Kelli—she’s going to be mad at me for blowing up her spot—but she was the oldest, so she made the mistakes, and then I didn’t do the things she got in trouble for.

TATUM: I can’t even imagine growing up under a microscope, because all I wanted to do was not only be like my older sister, but I wanted to do all the bad things she did. I was like, “I’m doing all those things. I don’t give a shit.”

KING: I always hated confrontation.

TATUM: Confrontation has entered the chat.

KING: I never wanted anyone to be upset with each other or with me. If I got in trouble, the weight of someone being disappointed in me, it was like I couldn’t breathe.

TATUM: When’s the last time you were in trouble?

KING: That’s such a funny question.

TATUM: Or you felt like, “Damn, this is kind of a learning situation”?

KING: Those kinds of situations, where you feel the discomfort of personal growth, happen not infrequently. I prefer the feeling of realizing I’m wrong about something over feeling right about something and like I need someone else’s validation to feel better. When I’m wrong about something, I feel the relief of knowing I need to apologize and make things right, versus when I’m right, I feel so lonely because I’m waiting for something that may never come.

TATUM: I think, from what you just said, you’re comfortable being in that place of discomfort. I love to hear that you’re not afraid of the bad place anymore. You’re not afraid of being the kid in trouble.

KING: Yeah. And getting older and realizing that your parents are real people, not just your disciplinarians. There’s a moment where you realize they deserve grace, and that frees you from feeling scared of that discomfort, if that makes sense.

TATUM: It fully does. Now, let’s say you have one year to do anything you want. And after that year’s done, you start back at the same point that you left off at. This is a bubble of 365 days that doesn’t exist in our timeline. What are you doing?

KING: That sounds like a fucking scary movie. Can you imagine experiencing all this life and then all of a sudden, you’re right back where you were? But shit, that’s so difficult, Channing. This is so lame—I think I want to learn Spanish.

TATUM: So you’re just going to spend 365 days with a Spanish tutor? [Laughs] You lying-ass bitch! Tell me the truth, dog—365 days of freedom! What are you doing?

KING: [Laughs] Well, I want to live somewhere else for a year.

TATUM:So you’re going to Spain to learn Spanish?

KING: No, I’ve been to Spain. I want to go to Japan—maybe to live there while learning Spanish! [Laughs] And then you know what I want to do? God, you asked me this on the spot. I think I need to be tased once in my life. I don’t know. I’ve never been tased or electrocuted and I feel like that changes a person.

TATUM: [Laughs] I love that answer. We can take care of you being tased pretty quickly. So what’s after being electrocuted?

KING: I want to run a Tough Mudder. I also want to conquer my fear of flying, so maybe I’ll see a hypnotist. Maybe I should do that anyway. And then I’d like to learn how to be handy and really mean it. My dryer started smoking three days ago and I’d like to know how to fix it. I want to be more self-sufficient.

TATUM: This tracks so much. You take joy in doing the little things. Even when you were 11 or 12, when we worked together the first time, you were the same as you are now.

KING: Let’s say you order something from Wayfair and you’re like, “Fuck, I’ve got to put this thing together.” But then you start doing it and you’re like, “This is super fucking fun.” I want more of that feeling.

TATUM: No one—I mean no one—has fun doing that. But I know for a fact you would be the most fun person to go do those terrible things with.

KING: It’s good, clean entertainment. No phone, no distraction. [Call disconnects] Oh, goodbye. Did the session time out or something?

TATUM: [Call reconnects] Hi! Sorry!

KING: I had this funny mental image of you being like, “I’m done.”

TATUM: Can you imagine if I was like, “It’s not interesting anymore”? No, I was literally sprinting through this hotel room and diving for the charger.

KING: I knew that your fucking phone died.

TATUM: Yeah, and I was just like, “No, fuck!” I did a straight-up Mrs. Doubtfire dive into the bed. Alright, so if you couldn’t do what you do now, what would you be doing?

KING: The dream would be to invest in something early and just be filthy fucking rich.

TATUM: That’s not a job. What’s the physical job that fulfills you?

KING: Two come to mind. I would’ve been pretty good at being a morning news anchor. I think I’ve got what it takes to be that energetic at that hour, but I don’t think I’d be happy. I also love children. I think I’d love being a teacher.

TATUM: I was not going to accept morning anchor, but alright, a teacher.

KING: My teacher Eva, who was with us on White House Down, was my favorite teacher of all time. Shout out to Eva.

TATUM: Oh man, I have so many other questions but I’ll just have to ask them in person. You’re truly a very special human and nothing I could have asked would ever have let anybody in on how special you are. I love you so much and I want people to get even just a glimpse of how dope you are.

KING: You have always been one of the most supportive and kind people I have ever worked with, and it remains that way to this very day.

TATUM: I love you, pal.

KING: Have a great night, morning, or whatever time it is for you.

TATUM: I’m about to go on a run in Salem, Massachusetts. I’m here with my daughter. We’re doing all the witchy stuff and I’m fat, so I’m going to go run all of this off on the witch trails over here.

KING: Well, you don’t look fat. I’m going to go watch more Love Is Blind: U.K.

TATUM: Yo, we can have a whole conversation about this. We’re on season 11. I haven’t even gone into the U.S. version of it, and then there’s Australia.

KING: Wait, are you talking about Love Island or Love Is Blind?

TATUM: Oh, sorry, I mean Love Island.

KING: Okay, I’m at Love Is Blind, so let’s pump the brakes here.

TATUM: I’m not going to say anything about Love Is Blind other than it’s fine, but it’s not Love Island.

KING: I’ve got to get back into Love Island because it is a true treat.

TATUM: Just dive back into the pool, my darling.

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Hair: Jake Gallagher using Oribe at The Only Agency.

Makeup: Esther Foster using iS Clinical and Shiseido.

Nails: Shigeko Taylor using Gelish Cream Gel at Star Touch Agency.

Photography Assistant: Will Koning.

Production Management: Georgia Ford.