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Chip and Joanna Gaines Are ‘Evolving’ in the ‘2nd Part’ of Their Marriage: ‘See Life Differently’
After celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary in May, Chip and Joanna Gaines have opened up about how their marriage has changed as they enter a new chapter together.
“Jo and I are in this beautiful moment. We’re evolving into each other,” Chip, 49, told People in an interview published on Monday, November 20, revealing that the duo is in “the second part of our marriage.”
Joanna, 45, noted, “I would say, as we’re getting older, I’m shifting and I’m more like Chip, and Chip is more like me,” adding, “We just see life differently now.”
After two decades together, the coupe still has the tradition of beginning their day by asking each other what they dreamed about the night before. Chip shared, “Mine are real practical. Jo’s are always funny. She’s got these really vivid dreams — big adventure and all this Technicolor.”
Joanna replied to her husband, “You’ve rubbed off on me,” adding, “I think that’s the beauty of relationships in general. If Chip weren’t my partner, I would probably still be in the corner. From the moment I met him, he’s always experienced change in a positive way. Even if it was negative, it was, ‘All right. What do we do next?’”
“I believe it now,” she continued. “We’ve had so much change in our lives, and the proof is there: Change is hard, but it’s always beautiful.”
Together the couple has built an empire that includes a TV network, magazine, a line of home goods and furnishings and numerous local businesses around their home in Waco, Texas, including Magnolia Home, Magnolia Realty, Magnolia Market, Silos Baking Co. and The Shops at the Silos. The pair most recently opened The Hotel 1928 in Waco on November 3.
Chip and Joanna came from humble beginnings after meeting in 2001 when she was working in father’s automotive shop. The pair married in 2003 and opened the Magnolia Market the same year after borrowing $5,000 to launch the business.
They eventually became skilled home renovators and caught the eye of HGTV. Chip and Joanna shot the pilot for Fixer Upper in May 2013 and the show debuted on the network in April 2014 to huge ratings. The duo’s TV success renovating homes around Waco helped them take the risks in expanding their Magnolia businesses.
As if they weren’t busy enough with work, the couple became parents in 2005, welcoming son Drake. The following year Jo gave birth to daughter Ella, while son Duke arrived in 2008 and daughter Emmie-Kay in 2010. Their fifth child, son Crew, was born in 2018.
Drake moved away to start college in the fall of 2023, something that Joanna is still coping with. “It’s this tension of joy and pain, all in one breath,” she told the publication of dropping him off at school. “Even now when I’m setting the table, I have to consciously go, ‘Oh, there’s only six here.’”
However, Jo looked at the positive side of her family’s current state, adding, “The greatest gift of having a kid go off to college and having a 5-year-old is that perspective. It’s not here forever. We don’t want to waste these moments.”
