HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines candidly detail the struggles in their 22-year marriage

Daily Mail​

20 hours ago

Chip and Joanna Gaines have been married for over two decades - but that doesn't mean they haven't had their fair share of ups and downs.
The HGTV stars - who share five children - recently opened up about their private life and how they have dealt with the challenges of marriage.
Joanna, 47, revealed that they had 'non-negotiables from day one,' speaking on how to balance their fame, family and relationship.
Joanna referenced the store she and Chip, 50, owned - which was called The Little Shop on Bosque and opened in the early 2000s - at the start of their marriage.
However, the mom-of-five said even though it was scary, she could see the bright side even if they 'were struggling for the first 12 years of marriage.'
'Like every Friday it was like, "Well, is this when we close our doors [of The Little Shop on Bosque]?"' she explained on the Stronger Podcast with Don Saladino.
'Every day we showed up, it was like, "Well, if this all goes away, we still have each other,"' the Fixer Upper star said passionately.
She explained that sums up the 'core and foundation' of who they are.
Chip said he would be fine with stepping away from the spotlight, as long as the most important thing - his wife and kids - were still there
'Every decision we make, we say, "How will this affect this?"' the renovation star shared.
Joanna credited her and Chip's decision to prioritize each other as helping them navigate fame whilst raising a family.
Chip agreed, adding he would be fine with stepping away from the spotlight, as long as the most important thing - his wife and kids - were still there.
'As I think about fame and success and money in comparison to my marriage and my family… [If] all of this would instantly go away, and my wife and my kids would be back on the farm, raising animals,' the doting dad mused during the interview.
'But Jo and I, we believe we can have our cake and eat it too in the sense that I can be successful and I can have a healthy marriage and family,' he added.
Joanna also shared the new endeavor the two are embarking on - their wellness journey.
'At this stage in our life, what we're trying to figure out is: we've got family, we've got business, like that's our thing... but now this wellness and health and working out, that is a new thing for us that we're trying to figure out,' she shared.
Joanna and Chip have been married since 2003 and share five children: Drake, 20, Ella, 18, Duke, 17, Emmie, 15, and Crew, seven.
Last month, the couple faced backlash from conservative Christians for their 'unbiblical' casting on their new reality show.
The pair were slammed by some critics for their new series, Back to the Frontier, which they serve as the executive producers of.
The show, which airs on the Magnolia Network, drops three families near the Canadian Rockies and forces them to live like it is the 1880s for eight weeks.
The families have no access to modern technology, no electricity or running water, and must harvest all their own food and tend to livestock.
While the show sounds like must-see TV for Chip and Joanna's target audience, some viewers have expressed outrage over the inclusion of a gay couple on the cast.
Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs, a same-sex couple, and their children are one of three families featured on the show.
They both took to social media to defend the Gaines', with Hanna posting a screenshot of a news article with the headline, 'Conservative Christians rage at reality show for letting gay people on,' and explained why he believes families like his should be shown on TV.
Riggs also shared a post thanking Chip and Joanna for casting them and standing by their decision to do so — even though nearly a decade ago, it was revealed that the Fixer Upper stars attend an Evangelical church, which believes 'homosexuality is a sin.'