Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV’s “Fixer Upper,” are, in many ways, polar opposites, yet their differences have served as a powerful collective force that has helped each of them grow personally, professionally and spiritually.
The husband and wife duo recently sat down to record a video for “I Am Second” to discuss their marriage, their personal traits and what they most admire about one another.
Joanna began by describing herself as naturally quiet — and a fan of predictability, explaining that she likes safety and “knowing what’s coming.”
“I don’t want to be surprised,” she said. Her husband, Chip, agreed with that assessment, calling Joanna a “wallflower” who is “the purest, most stable person” he’s ever met.
Meanwhile, Chip offered up his own self-assessment as well, saying he’s naturally wild and willing to take chances, and that, before he met Joanna, he found himself always trying to “prove something to someone.” Joanna concurred, saying that Chip is someone who refuses to let fear and failure control him, and has no qualms about taking risks.
“If you give Chip a boundary, he’s going to break that boundary. If you give him a rule, he’s not going to follow it,” Joanna said. “And if you tell him, ‘You can’t go over this line,’ he’ll put his toe over it.”
But it’s clear these divergent qualities have actually helped the couple grow. Joanna, for instance, said she believes she’d “still be dreaming” in her head, rather than taking steps to recognize some of her dreams had she not met Chip.
“You push me. You push me out of my comfort zone,” she told her husband, as the two sat side-by-side in I Am Second’s signature white chairs, later adding, “I was made for a reason and I need to let whatever God has created me for, that needs to be known. I don’t need to stay hidden.”
Chip, too, has been profoundly impacted by his wife, saying he finally felt content for the first time when they fell in love. He explained, “I felt like I could be exactly who I was.”
Watch the couple discuss their lives together below:
These changes and points of growth also carried over to the couple’s Christian faith. While Chip said his wife has helped him appreciate structure in his relationship with God, Joanna said Chip has helped her see that growing in one’s spiritual journey won’t always be a comfortable experience.
“I have learned so much about order and structure and processes through my wife and God is all of those things to me now,” Chip said. “But at the beginning, God was just chaotic to me — he was wild, he was untamed, he was unruly, and I liked that.”
As for Joanna, she said Chip has helped her discover “this reality of what it’s like to follow Christ,” saying that some parts of the experience will “push you to a place of discomfort.”