Having a hit TV show can change you, and Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines have definitely gone through a lot of changes in their lives since their show first premiered on HGTV. However, they are still the same lovable, down-to-earth couple they were before the show began, and they don't really see themselves as celebrities, despite all the evidence to the contrary. From the dream house in which they've been able to raise their growing family to the other business ventures they've undertaken, let's take a look at the ways in which Chip and Joanna Gaines have changed since Fixer Upper first aired.
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00:00When the world was first introduced to Chip and Joanna Gaines, they were trying to make
00:04a living flipping houses, and had no idea how successful they'd become.
00:09Here's how the couple has changed since their show, Fixer Uppers, premiered.
00:14What started as a small way for Joanna Gaines to share her love of design with the world
00:19turned into a massive media frenzy.
00:22Her world completely changed when a producer from HGTV just happened to stumble across
00:26her small blog in 2012.
00:28She later admitted to Today,
00:30"...I don't think we ever knew it was going to be this national thing."
00:34By the time fans had followed Fixer Upper into Season 3, it was the number one show
00:39on cable television.
00:41By Season 4, it was taking up 10 percent of HGTV's airtime.
00:45And by the time their television series came to an end after five seasons, it had received
00:50two Emmy nominations.
00:52In 2018, after becoming the most popular duo in HGTV history, Joanna and Chip Gaines left
00:58HGTV for a special reason, with Joanna telling People,
01:02"...we really want to focus on this break and take a step back to let this all soak
01:06in."
01:07"...and I'm wanting it to look a little more A-T-C-L-O-U-S-E-C-A-L-Y."
01:11"...oh dude, I'm sorry, oh my gosh, I didn't even see you there."
01:16Understandably, fans were frazzled that Fixer Upper was ending, but it was just the beginning
01:21of what the Gaines were building.
01:24As if they weren't busy enough, Chip and Joanna decided to continue to tackle television while
01:28also working a construction business and chasing after four kids.
01:32However, when the couple signed on for Fixer Upper, their dance card wasn't full yet.
01:38Alongside their growing businesses came a growing family as well.
01:41In 2018, the Gaines welcomed their fifth child, Crew, and decided to take a break from TV.
01:47Watching their kids grow up while working on Fixer Upper had already been enough of
01:51a whirlwind for the overwhelmed family.
01:53Those years just flew by because there was so much happening in the moment.
01:57I feel like I can really take this one in and relish these moments.
02:01However, the Gaines family decided to take on television once again in 2021, and they
02:07show no signs of slowing down, in all aspects of their life.
02:10So are Chip and Joanna Gaines having another baby?
02:13She hinted at the possibility in 2019 by telling Today,
02:17"...I think Chip just loves a full plate."
02:19Before they were famous, few people knew that the couple was having trouble financially.
02:25Money was tight when it came to making their mortgage and feeding their family of six.
02:29Chip even admitted to Success Magazine,
02:32"...there was a good 10-year run to where Joe and I were literally consistently worried
02:36about things that most people would take for granted."
02:39It was thanks to the successful show that the couple was able to make a real change,
02:44building the foundation for their futures.
02:46However, this Hollywood-type career took the pair even further than that.
02:50So just how much are Chip and Joanna Gaines really worth?
02:54The two now have a net worth of $20 million.
02:57However, becoming multi-millionaires was never the Gaines' end goal.
03:01It was much simpler than that.
03:02"...I was wanting to support my family.
03:05I wanted to live, you know, the American dream."
03:09A year before Fixer Upper premiered, Chip and Joanna Gaines fell in love with a farmhouse
03:14outside of Waco, Texas.
03:16Its 40 rolling acres seemed like the perfect place to raise their family and dozens of
03:21farm animals.
03:22However, much like all the properties the pair work on, it required a bit of labor.
03:27Throughout Season 1 of Fixer Upper, Chip and Joanna released a series of YouTube videos
03:31showing fans how they were renovating their home.
03:35As their fame came to fruition, so did their own Fixer Upper.
03:39Joanna updated their fans on the house via her blog, posting,
03:43"...just like all of us, our homes have a journey of their own."
03:47While the Gaines family have a busy life running their businesses and appearing on our television
03:51screens, Chip and Joanna still claim to be homebodies at heart, with Chip writing on
03:55their blog,
03:56"...you can drag us out and make us travel and even put us up in some fancy place way
04:01nicer than where we live, but the reality remains the same.
04:05We want to go back home."
04:08Needless to say, fans quickly fell in love with Fixer Upper, so to share their in-demand
04:13designs, Chip and Joanna Gaines launched their Texas-based retail businesses, Magnolia Market
04:18at the Silos.
04:19But countless viewers all over the country wanted to bring the heart of Waco into their
04:23own homes, too.
04:24In 2017, the Gaines family finally made a deal with Target and created a collection
04:29called Arth & Hand to share with the world.
04:33Joanna sounded excited about the development in her press release about the deal.
04:37When guests visit our shops at the Silos in Waco, Texas, they get to experience the
04:41true essence of what Magnolia is.
04:44We know that not everyone can come visit, so we are excited to bring some of our home
04:48to yours."
04:49That was a welcome change for eager fans.
04:52To preserve the Magnolia image in the Arth & Hand collection, Joanna made sure that the
04:57national collection shared a similarity to their small store in Waco.
05:01Chip provided a glimpse of what customers could expect to see via their blog.
05:05It's like a little shop inside of Target.
05:07Joe keeps calling the look Modern Farmhouse, whatever that means.
05:12The Gaines didn't have to leave the small world of Waco, Texas, in order to get famous.
05:16Rather, the fame came to them instead.
05:19This fixer-upper couple now has fans all across the country, and the entire world now knows
05:23them by name.
05:24In fact, in 2017, the pair's social media presence earned them a spot on The Hollywood
05:29Reporter's list of top TV personalities.
05:32With over 12 million followers on Instagram alone, Joanna was named the number one personality
05:37that people love to follow across all platforms.
05:41It turns out that she had more fans posting to her social media pages than Jimmy Fallon
05:45and even Oprah Winfrey.
05:47Joanna didn't sound like the fame has gone to her head, admitting to Today that they
05:51still get starstruck.
05:53We get tweets from celebrities.
05:54It's very surreal.
05:56So, as of now, these two homebodies-turned-household names are hopeful they can still lead normal
06:01lives outside of the limelight.
06:03The urge to live the simple life hasn't changed for them.
06:07What makes fixer-uppers so successful isn't just the fact that fans love to watch Chip
06:11and Joanna Gaines flip houses.
06:14People also love that these two Texans come across as an average family that fans can
06:18relate to.
06:19In 2016, the Gaines' realized there was more to them than renovations, and that publishers
06:23were interested.
06:25To that end, the couple gave fans an inside look at their lives in their book The Magnolia
06:30Story.
06:31Within its pages, Chip and Joanna explain how they began their businesses, what life
06:35lessons they've learned, and how they've changed.
06:38Not surprisingly, the book quickly became a New York Times bestseller.
06:42In a statement, Joanna said,
06:43"...getting to tell this story together was like uncovering and reliving half a lifetime's
06:48worth of happy memories, failures, and adventures."
06:52Chip and Joanna have also published additional tomes to the delight of fixer-upper fans.
06:57That includes the countless cookbooks they've written, as well as a children's book inspired
07:01by their own little ones.
07:04When Chip and Joanna signed on to star in Fixer Upper, they originally thought no one
07:08but locals would tune in.
07:10Boy, were they wrong.
07:11In fact, the Gaines family can't go anywhere anymore without being recognized, with Chip
07:15telling the New York Times,
07:17"...no matter how many times someone asks me to sign their hat or ask Joe for a picture,
07:21it still feels surreal.
07:23We don't think of ourselves as famous, even now."
07:25Rather, they view themselves simply as a family of fixer-uppers.
07:30Even as they've gotten super famous, the Gaines always remember to stay grounded.
07:34Joanna explained this in an interview with People,
07:36"...we're trying to make it to where it's as normal as possible for our kids, that they
07:41don't get the magnitude of this."
07:44So while television has treated them well, raising their kids right will always come
07:47first.
07:49Joanna Gaines had always dreamed of opening her own businesses, something Chip echoed
07:53during a chat with Build Series.
07:55She had this whole book, a notebook, full of businesses that she would hypothetically
07:59start one day.
08:00Impressed by Joanna's ideas, Chip wanted her to make what she wrote down a reality.
08:05"...I just dreamed about them, and he really encouraged me to step out and make one of
08:11those dreams happen."
08:13After television, another industry seemed to be calling out to Chip and Joanna.
08:17And after releasing countless cookbooks, it really should be no surprise that the pair
08:21wanted to get into the restaurant business.
08:24So in 2016, Chip and Joanna Gaines fixed up an abandoned restaurant that the locals had
08:28always loved.
08:30They turned it into Magnolia Table.
08:33And when that was a hit, they also opened a quaint coffee shop called Magnolia Press
08:37in 2020.
08:39At the end of the day, fixing up a food business wasn't so foreign to Chip and Joanna, either.
08:43Writing in their blog,
08:44"...we're especially excited about the custom furniture Joe designed that you'll find throughout
08:48the press."
08:50Since the first episode of Fixer Upper aired in 2013, Chip and Joanna Gaines have had quite
08:55an effect on audiences everywhere.
08:58So much so, that in 2019, a whole year after they wrapped up their show, they made Time's
09:03list of the 100 Most Influential People.
09:07During the awards gala, Chip and Joanna found themselves rubbing shoulders with celebrities.
09:12Quite the change from their humble Texas roots, Chip shared what was going through their minds
09:16in an interview with Today.
09:17"...It set in really quickly and overwhelmingly.
09:20It was like, what are we doing here?"
09:23Truly, the Gaines never dreamed they'd be where they are today.
09:26Their initial plan for Joanna was to eventually take over her family's automotive business.
09:31After all, as she explained in the Magnolia story,
09:34"...if I had planned my life, it never would have ended up like this.
09:38So maybe it's kind of fun not to plan."
09:41Everywhere Chip and Joanna Gaines go, they want it to feel homey.
09:44They want others to feel the same, too, so bringing people to Waco is what they're most
09:49passionate about.
09:50With Joanna explaining on their blog,
09:52What it really comes down to is our desire to create a place where people feel welcomed.
09:58Fans can spend the night in homes that were featured on Fixer Upper, but in 2019, Chip
10:02was dreaming bigger.
10:03He decided to buy a boutique hotel close to their downtown shops and, naturally, fix it
10:08up.
10:09But at nearly 53,000 square feet, it was a much larger project than the pair was used
10:14to with Joanna initially hesitant and summing up her thoughts during a chat with Today,
10:18Let's just stick with houses."
10:20But after hearing Chip's plans for the place and getting over the fact that it may or may
10:24not be haunted, Chip began to share his vision.
10:27They aren't done either, as later that year, Chip and Joanna Gaines purchased a historic
10:31castle in Waco as their next Fixer Upper.
10:35Two years after Fixer Upper ended, Chip and Joanna Gaines let fans know that they were
10:40bringing it back in 2021, finally!
10:43What did you do, Chip?
10:44I signed us up for another season of Fixer Upper.
10:47Are you serious?
10:48Yes.
10:49I answered the office phone like you told me never to do."
10:52However, it turns out that these two Texans have more to share than just their love of
10:56Fixer Uppers.
10:57To that end, in 2019, the Gaines announced that they're launching their own network on
11:02television, appropriately called Magnolia Network.
11:06Set to replace the DIY network, the Gaines family are creating their own lineup of original
11:11content, from cooking to crafting.
11:13Truly, fans have become obsessed with Chip and Joanna, something that Magnolia Network
11:18president Allison Page is keenly aware of, telling Variety,
11:22"...it was their authenticity, relatability, family focus, and zest for life that made
11:26America fall in love with them."
11:29During Joanna Gaines' time on Fixer Upper, she found herself falling in love with cooking.
11:34But with dozens of growing businesses and her five kids to contend with, how could she
11:38possibly find time to cook?
11:40By being paid to do it on TV.
11:43So after authoring cookbooks and even whipping up some at-home cooking videos on YouTube,
11:47"...and once it sits, it hardens, and then they crumble it on top of the salad, and that
11:52is why my kids eat the salad."
11:54"...we don't actually eat the salad."
11:57Joanna will host her very own cooking show on Magnolia Network, announcing on her blog,
12:01"...I want to share recipes with you that I love.
12:04But even more than sharing recipes, I hope it reminds you of what a gift it is to spend
12:08time in the kitchen, being creative, and making good food for people you love."
12:14To tease her new television show, Joanna starred in a special on the Food Network.
12:18Three million viewers tuned into In the Kitchen with Joanna Gaines to see her cook.
12:24Waco, Texas wasn't necessarily a tourist destination before Chip and Joanna Gaines featured the
12:29town on television.
12:30But ever since Fixer Upper became a massive hit, more people make the pilgrimage to Magnolia
12:35Market than the Alamo.
12:37Over 30,000 visitors from all over the world stop by the shops each week, according to
12:42the Waco Tribune-Herald.
12:43"...all the way from Bakersfield, California, Albany, Oregon, New Orleans, Louisiana, Seattle,
12:52Washington."
12:53Joanna admitted on her blog,
12:54"...this entire business idea was born completely out of a dream I didn't know could ever come
13:00to life."
13:01While Fixer Upper may have started out as a show about flipping houses, for the Gaines,
13:06it's so much more than that.
13:07It's special footage of their family, town, and way of life.
13:11In an interview with Today, Chip said,
13:13"...it makes sense that we like it, it makes sense that my grandmother likes it, but why
13:18does everybody else like it?"
13:20While their mass appeal is something that Chip and Joanna still can't wrap their minds
13:23around, they have revitalized Waco and given it a new energy.
13:28But they remain humble, with Chip saying,
13:30"...we just feel extremely thankful."