Channing Tatum says he did drugs while working as a stripper Art imitating life ... Magic Mike stars Channing Tatum, seen with co-star Alex Pettyfer, as a stripper. CHANNING Tatum has revealed that he did drugs while he was working as a stripper, partly to deal with the job. "I wouldn't say I was losing myself in drugs because I wasn't doing anything habitually," he told The Hollywood Reporter. He also insisted it wasn't serious. Just experimenting. Experimenting, I would say. Never the big ones - crack or heroin," he said. I never OD'd or anything. Never. He did admit that he'd dabbled in cocaine. "Maybe a couple times, but that was later," Tatum said. "Drinking was probably the biggest (thing)," he added. I didn't look at drinking as a problem. It wasn't at that point, and I still don't think it's a problem. But at that time in my life, it was, "Let's go out and have a great time."" Happy couple ... Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum. Picture: AP Photo/Charles Sykes. Channing said that although he described himself as a "functioning alcoholic" in a recent interview with US GQ, he said the quote was taken out of context. "It was something said that wasn't meant to be factual," he said. It was said in context with the glutton side of myself. I'm constantly a flip-and-flop of extremes. I take care of it, to an extent - and then I kind of knock it all down and destroy the sand castle. All I meant was that I do things in extreme. Tatum's days of a stripper, of course, helped create the box office hit Magic Mike (the sequel Magic Mike XXL is currently in production), focusing mainly on his experience of attending a stripper convention. Behind-the-scenes Magic Mike XXL ... Michael Strahan and Channing Tatum. "I have no idea why it's called a convention," he said. "The "convention" was not strippers peddling stripper technology or anything like that. It was just a big show with 50 to 70 strippers and 2000 to 3000 women. It was crazy. They attacked me every night. Originally published as Tatum: "I did drugs while stripping"