Joanna Gaines Is a Doting Mom of 5 & Now Feels the Loss as Her First Child Leaves the Nest

Reality TV star Joanna Gaines may have a few more years to go before she and her husband Chip Gaines become empty nesters. The celebrity couple raised their brood while also attempting to grow their family business, and they were broke at the same time.

TV presenter Joanna Gaines seems like the perfect wife and mom, but she has had to endure many hardships to find her happiness.

She met her future husband, Chip Gaines, in 2001 in Waco, Texas. Chip instantly knew Joanna would be his future wife just from seeing her in a photo behind her father's shop counter.

"I knew I'd marry her one day just by the picture on the wall," he told PopSugar once. The actor made the first move hoping to meet the brunette beauty by taking his pickup to Firestone.

Luckily for Chip, the stars aligned, and he eventually met Joanna in person. He first said to her that he had seen her in commercials. "Hey, you're the girl in the commercials," he stated.

The pair then had a sit-down chat outside the auto shop and conversed for 30 minutes, per The Insider. The next day, Chip boldly called Joanna and asked her out on a date.

She agreed, and for their first official date, the couple revealed to Texas Monthly that they had fried chicken for dinner while sitting on the porch of a restaurant "housed in a historic mansion."

Although Chip was almost an hour and a half late, according to Joanna, he only believes that he was 20 minutes late for their date. However, to this day, she is not made about it because of his confidence at the time.

Moreover, Joanna felt she was meeting a different person as she assumed Chip had no hair. The first time they met, he wore a baseball cap, so she figured he must have hair underneath, only for him to rock up at their date bald.

Regardless of their official date almost becoming nonexistent and Joanna's hesitation at first, the duo went on their second date several months later. Although they first fell head over heels with each other, Chip only made contact months after their initial date.

He had made a $50 bet with a friend to stick it out to see who would get in touch with their dates first. Chip explained that that was the only reason he did not reach out to Joanna after their first date.

Regardless, she was already smitten by his strong personality, which was the opposite of her shy and introverted self. In addition, they discovered that they had similar backgrounds, including religion and "very similar environments."

While Joanna remained guarded most of their time, Chip's kindness eventually won her over. She told PopSugar how she knew he was "the one" for her:

"At first, I couldn't believe how kind Chip was – he had kind eyes and made me laugh a lot. I knew he was the one because I knew I could trust him."

After a year of dating, Chip popped the big question in 2002, telling her that they were going to a private concert but instead rerouted to a shopping center where he got down on one knee.

After Joanna said 'yes' to the proposal, the lovebirds headed into a jewelry store to have the bride-to-be's engagement ring designed. The couple walked down the aisle on May 31, 2003, in the Earle Harrison House in Waco, Texas.

As newlyweds, the Baylor University graduates were merely business owners starting and were penniless. However, their lives drastically changed for the better as they went from being an average couple to being celebrities.

In a December 2020 issue of People, Joanna opened up about their humble beginnings, revealing they had to make their circumstances work for them wherever they could:

"I remember when we first got married, the only money we had was what was in Chip's pocket. He always had a wad of cash, but we were broke. If I needed to go grocery shopping, it was whatever was in his pocket. That's how we paid the bills."

In "The Magnolia Story," Joanna divulged that in 2012, television producer Katie Neff contacted her after seeing her design blog and asked whether she would be interested in shooting a reality TV show.

When she told her husband about the offer, Chip profusely believed it was a scam. However, Joanna followed her instincts and returned the producer's call.

A year later, the "Fixer Upper" pilot aired on HGTV, featuring the couple. The TV stars became household names as a result.

BUILDING AN EMPIRE WHILE RAISING KIDS

While their business expanded, so did their family, as the couple welcomed their four kids while growing their business. Their youngest child came very late in their life.

In an interview with Southern Living, Joanna reflected on raising five children and admitted that she had forgotten all that occurred while raising her first four kids. The doting mom said the experience went by fast but that she was experiencing it all through her older children.

When asked whether she wrote down some of the things involving motherhood and juggling work, the author confessed one of her regrets about being a mom of five:

"One of my regrets is that I don't remember things from the other four. It was such a crazy time. Now it's the little moments that stop me in my tracks because that’s what life is all about."

Moreover, being a reserved individual did not help her case, so Joanna realized that she needed to make changes and get out of her comfort zone. After it dawned on her that her children would not be young forever, she had to learn to be playful with them to keep up.

JOANNA & CHIP’S FIVE KIDS

Joanna and Chip practically raised their brood on the HGTV show and they often made appearances on their social media accounts.

The couple’s eldest child Drake is a sports fanatic and is into football. In 2021, the teen reached a milestone by getting his driver’s license.

Chip and Joanna’s oldest daughter Ella is reportedly just like her mom. She loves interior design among other things. She was often seen helping out her mother decorate before the big reveal on their TV series.

The duo’s third child and second son Duke is also into sports like his older brother. However, he particularly likes baseball. He and his sister Emme reportedly want to own a food truck in the future to sell fruits and vegetables.

Emmie is Joanna and Chip’s youngest daughter. She also has similar interests to her mom; she loves baking chocolate chip cookies, is religious, and is a plant enthusiast.

The youngest of the siblings is Crew, whom the couple welcomed in 2018. Per his parents’ social media posts, the last born enjoys watching his mom’s cooking show, “Magnolia Table,” harvesting fruit, sock fishing, and going to the beach.

When speaking on motherhood, Joanna said it was the center of her universe, adding everything else could fall away but that she lives and breathes it:

“Motherhood means everything to me. Everything else in my life can go away, but that’s my thing. That’s what wakes me up. It’s my heart – these kids.”

In March 2019, Joanna reflected on having her youngest child in her forties. She shared that the experience made her feel rejuvenated:

“I kid with people, ‘If you ever want to feel young again, have a baby at 40.’ It’s brought this whole new thing for me where I’m a lot more laid-back. People joke that I’m the ‘Fun Jo,’ now.”

That said, amid her hectic schedule while running her household, Joanna still finds time to balance her work and personal life. In a letter for Motherly, the Kansas native revealed that whenever she got home from work, she leaves her phone in the car to bond with the kids.

Even though she comes back tired, she finds it fulfilling when she sees the look in their eyes when asking them to cook with her to play with them outside. Joanna noted that as a mother, it is important for her to switch her mindset and be cognisant of what is important, adding they would not be little forever.

The proud mom also reflected on her oldest child Drake going to college soon. In an essay for her Magnolia blog, she wrote that while seeing off her son would feel “like a loss,” she and her husband were at the same time excited about the next chapter in their child’s life.

She noted that with Drake’s absence from home, their family dynamic would change, “and that can feel like a loss of its own. I catch glimpses now of what that life will look like and wonder if – or how many times – that might bring me to the floor."