Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Relationship Timeline: From ‘Fixer Upper’ to the Magnolia Empire and Beyond
06.01.2022 - 01:17
/ usmagazine.com
Home renovation royalty! Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines have turned their original Magnolia Market into a massive, multimedia empire, but it all started with their romance.
Soon after meeting by chance in 2001 at Joanna’s father’s repair shop in Waco, Texas, the duo went on their first date. It wasn’t without complications, however — the carpenter was more than an hour late to pick up his future wife.
“He didn’t even have a plan for our date,” the Kansas native recalled in the couple’s 2016 memoir, The Magnolia Story. “He didn’t apologize for being late, either. He had so much confidence. I don’t know. I can’t explain it. Only Chip could be an hour and a half late and have no one mad about it.”
Despite the potentially rocky start, the duo hit it off right away, getting engaged in 2002 and tying the knot the following year. After their wedding, they got down to business. Chip had started flipping homes before meeting Joanna, who quickly became his in-house decorator.
Just five months after their wedding, the pair opened the first iteration of the home goods shop, Magnolia Market, in Waco. Eventually, their burgeoning renovation business caught the attention of HGTV executives, who tapped the duo to host a show called Fixer Upper.
After premiering in May 2013, the series became one of the network’s most popular shows ever, spawning a spinoff titled Fixer Upper: Behind the Design. The couple ended the show in April 2018 after five seasons, partly because it was putting too much stress on their family. The duo are parents to five kids: Drake, Ella, Duke, Emmie Kay and Crew.
“We realized we didn’t necessarily love that side of the camera, and that part became a full-time job,” Joanna told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2021. “We’ve