Chip Gaines Says Marriage Changed Him, Meeting Joanna Made Him Want to Be a Better Man
Wedding days are usually full of pure happiness. You’re not thinking about the struggles to come — not when there’s cake to eat and a chance to celebrate with loved ones!
The first year might hold the honeymoon phase, but the real issues are bound to rise eventually. When two people join together in holy matrimony, there are bound to be some bumps in the road along the way.
Chip and Joanna Gaines might appear to have it all together when it comes to wedded bliss, but the “Fixer Upper” couple has always been open regarding the fact that it hasn’t always been easy.
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When the pair announced they were taking a step back from “Fixer Upper” in 2017, there was some speculation that it was because the Gaines’ marriage was not doing so well.
In an interview with TODAY, Chip explained that his relationship with his wife and their family comes first. “We didn’t want to push it, redline it, for so long that we woke up and realized we are at a point of no return,” he said.
In that same interview, Chip added that he and Jo were “as healthy as [they’ve] ever been.” And, it seems, they’re continuing to do well as they just celebrated 16 years of marriage.
In a sweet anniversary post shared on Instagram, Jo wrote, “16 years and it feels like we’re just getting started… I love you Chip Carter Gaines.”
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A recent interview with PEOPLE revealed an even deeper look into the couple’s marital journey. Chip explained that he wasn’t always a “settle-down” kind of guy.
“I really wasn’t that guy. I dated girls whose goal in life was to get married and have kids,” Chip told the magazine. “They had it all planned out, but I was too selfish. It was about me and what I wanted to do, and I didn’t have anything tying me down.”
And then, oh then, he met Jo. And suddenly, everything changed. You often hear that meeting the right girl will change even the biggest bachelor. For Chip, Jo was that girl.
“It felt like there was this real transition,” the happy husband and father of 5 told PEOPLE. “I matured and grew up. It just kind of clicked in my brain: ‘This is going to work.'”
The pair married in 2003 and marriage changed him in plenty of ways he couldn’t have anticipated.
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“I had to make a lot of changes. I had to be a better person,” he said. “But when I thought about the idea of being an 80-year-old man sitting on a rocking chair with my beautiful wife, and for she and I to have made it [that far], I got really excited.” Chip added that his wife “makes this whole thing go around.”
Can’t get enough of Chip and Joanna Gaines? Follow Joanna’s blog on Magnolia.com where she posts her latest updates and ideas for sprucing up your spaces.
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