Now that they’re four seasons into an extremely successful show on HGTV, Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines have, unfortunately, been exposed to the downsides of fame, which includes cruel rumors about their family — particularly attacking their 14-year marriage. Though Chip recently said that the couple “won’t ever” get a divorce, he also admitted that he came very close to marrying someone else before meeting Jo.

In a column for the duo’s magazine, The Magnolia Journal, the father-of-four revealed that his college girlfriend Amy was the first woman to steal his heart. But things started to unravel when he went to visit her in London — where she had moved for a job — and realized they weren’t on the same page when it came to their relationship.

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“On the painfully long flight home, which gave me about 10 hours of reflection, I felt convinced that Amy was the one,” Chip wrote. “I walked off the plane hellbent on making that young woman my wife.” But, luckily for us fans, Amy’s parents said no when he asked for her hand. “They politely declined,” the 42-year-old shared.

Clearly, it all worked out in the end, because Chip then found Jo, and TV’s cutest couple was born. But the duo is the first to admit that their life together is far from perfect (despite what you see on camera!)

“There were times when we would fight like cats and dogs,” Chip has said, confessing that Jo, 39, cried a lot during their first year of marriage. “But there was just something about her. We’d work through it. Whatever stupid mistake I made — and there was plenty of stuff that set her off — we’d find a way to get through it, and we’d wind up being even closer to each other in the end.”

We seriously can’t get enough of these two!