They are the king and queen of hospitality and home improvement. But beneath the surface of their business empire there are mumblings of marital strife, business disagreements, and questions over their public persona as God-fearing Christians.
Chip and Joanna Gaines are worth an estimated $50 million, and built their massive fortune as the stars of Fixer Upper on the popular home network HGTV.
Since then, the couple, who have been married for more than two decades and share five children, have gone from home renovation experts to real estate developers and best-selling authors plus creators of a line of home décor goods for major retailers like Target and Anthropologie – all under their lifestyle brand Magnolia.
However, the entrepreneurs came under fire in July for their latest Magnolia Network series Back to the Frontier, which tasks contestants to live on the frontier as 1880s homesteaders in an eight-week social experiment.
The reality series featured same-sex couple Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs, and their 10-year-old twin sons, as one of the three families on Back to the Frontier.
The casting has sparked fury among some conservative Christian viewers, who accused the show of being sinful and ‘promoting homosexuality’.
Chip (left) and Joanna Gaines (right) are the stars of HGTV’s Fixer Upper and co-owners of Magnolia Network
The couple faced backlash in July when they featured same-sex couple Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs, and their twin 10-year-old sons, as one of the three families on Magnolia Network’s Back to the Frontier
The inclusion of a same-sex couple appeared at odds with the couple’s vocal Christianity, and their membership of the traditionally conservative Antioch Community Church in their hometown of Waco, Texas.
While some called the casting of a same sex couple a ‘PR nightmare’, others blasted Chip and Joanna as ‘sell outs’ who had abandoned their Christian faith to cater to the demands of the ‘woke’ network that co-owns Magnolia Network.
Now, an inside source has revealed to the Daily Mail the truth about the Gaines’ continuing struggles to navigate the outrage of some of their loyal fanbase and offered insight into their working relationship.
‘They have always struggled with the line between business and personal relationship,’ the insider told the Daily Mail.
While Chip and Joanna, who first appeared on HGTV’s Fixer Upper in 2013, have ‘a lot of chemistry’ on screen, the source maintained it’s also obvious ‘when the chemistry is a bit off’.
‘They wear on each other’s nerves, and sometimes that bubbles over,’ the source said.
‘They get very cold towards each other. They don’t have poker faces. I’ve seen that firsthand.’
Chip and Joanna met in 2001. Joanna, who was born in Wichita, Kansas, and moved to Texas when she was 12, was working at her father’s tire store in Waco when Chip came in looking to get his brakes fixed.
Chip and Joanna, who have been open about their Christian faith, faced backlash from some conservative viewers calling them ‘sell outs’ over their decision to feature a same-sex couple
A source has revealed to the Daily Mail that Chip and Joanna ‘have always struggled with the line between business and personal relationship’
The couple, who were married in 2003, are parents to five children: sons Drake, Duke and Crew, and daughters Ella and Emmie
At the time, Chip, originally from New Mexico, owned his own lawn business and was buying and flipping houses on the side in Waco.
After tying the knot in 2003, Joanna became a decorator, and they joined forces as a house flipping duo. Their first joint business venture was a home goods retail store in Waco called Magnolia Market, which opened the same year they married.
In between growing their business, the couple welcomed five children in quick succession: son Drake, born in 2005; daughter Ella, born in 2006; son Duke, born in 2008; daughter Emmie, born in 2010; and son Crew, born in 2018.
HGTV aired the pilot episode of Fixer Upper in 2013, and it was an instant hit with nearly two million viewers.
The first full season aired the following year, and Chip and Joanna went on to star in Fixer Upper for five more seasons until its finale in 2018.
Chip and Joanna’s signature modern farmhouse style – complete with shiplap walls, barn doors, and clawfoot tubs – certainly attracted viewers, but their relatable dynamic that made them seem like every other couple was a winning draw too.
Chip’s frequent playful and impulsive design decisions were balanced out by Joanna’s level-headedness and practicality.
And as Fixer Upper took off, so did their businesses.
The pair created a bustling retail center in 2015 out of a pair of abandoned cotton silos in Waco’s downtown, which would come to serve as the epicenter of their Magnolia operation.
Today, Magnolia Market at the Silos encompasses two city blocks including a 12,000 square foot retail store, a green lawn, a whiffle ball field, and six boutique-style shops each with a specific theme.
There’s also Magnolia’s signature bakery Silos Baking Co, Magnolia Press coffee shop, and their sit-down restaurant Magnolia Table – about an eight-minute drive from the Silos.
In the year since its opening, the retail center attracted an estimated 1.2 million visitors. Today, the property has an estimated 30,000 customers flocking there each week.
Chip and Joanna have since opened three vacation rental properties: Hillcrest Estate and Hillcrest Cottage on Airbnb, and their latest boutique hotel venture, Hotel 1928, in downtown Waco.
Then there’s three bestselling Magnolia Table cookbooks, and an entire range of furniture and home decor available to shop on their Magnolia website and their Hearth & Hand collaboration at Target.
Magnolia Market at the Silos in Waco, Texas, serves as the headquarters of the couple’s $50 million Magnolia empire
One year after its opening in 2015, Magnolia Market attracted an estimated 1.2 million visitors
Following the series finale of Fixer Upper in 2018, Chip and Joanna announced the launch of their own lifestyle network – Magnolia Network.
The network, which launched in 2021, serves as the home base of programming for their Magnolia umbrella, including all seasons of Fixer Upper and Joanna’s cooking show Magnolia Table, as well as new home renovation and cooking-style shows.
Surely, such a busy work schedule and demanding business portfolio would present challenges in any relationship and leave little time for any couple to be… well, a couple?
In August, Chip and Joanna appeared on the Stronger Podcast with Don Saladino where they discussed the difficulties of navigating fame and fortune while prioritizing family.
‘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,’ Chip said on the podcast.
‘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.’
Meanwhile, Joanna revealed that the pair ‘were struggling for the first 12 years’ of their 22-year marriage as they built their business and became HGTV stars.
The interview marked a rare candid moment for the couple, who – according to the insider – keep much of their interpersonal struggles away from the public eye.
The couple made a rare comment about their marriage during a podcast appearance in August, in which Joanna said they ‘were struggling for the first 12 years’ of their 22-year marriage
‘They don’t share with anyone because they don’t want it to be in the tabloids,’ the source told the Daily Mail.
‘They have a very tight circle. They don’t sit around with their friends and complain about each other.’
While Chip and Joanna have a stake in Magnolia Network, the channel is co-owned by mega media conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery, which facilitates its shows to be streamed on HBO Max and Discovery Plus.
As such, their decision to cast a same sex couple last July on Back to the Frontier sparked speculation among fans that it was due to pressure from executives at Warner Bros.
Some conservative viewers claimed the couple have given up their ‘traditional/biblical values’ and blasted them as ‘sell outs’.
Most notably, conservative leader Reverend Franklin Graham – the son of the late televangelist Billy Graham – made a public post criticizing Chip and Joanna for featuring a gay couple on their show.
‘I hope this isn’t true, but I read today that Chip and Joanna Gaines are featuring a gay couple in their new series,’ he wrote.
‘If it is true, it is very disappointing. While we are to love people, we should love them enough to tell them the truth of God’s Word. His Word is absolute truth.
‘God loves us, and His design for marriage is between one man and one woman. Promoting something that God defines as sin is in itself sin.’
Conservative leader Reverend Franklin Graham criticized Chip and Joanna for featuring a gay couple on their show
Chip doubled-down on their decision to feature a same-sex couple, as he appeared to chastise conservative Christians for their outrage over the casting
In a surprising move, Chip – who largely keeps his personal views to himself – appeared to hit back at critics for their outrage over the casting.
‘Talk, ask [questions], listen… maybe even learn,’ he wrote on X on July 13.
‘Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never. It’s a sad Sunday when ‘non believers’ have never been confronted with hate or vitriol until they are introduced to a modern American Christian.’
Chip’s apparent doubling-down on the decision to feature an LGBTQ+ couple on their show, caught many members of their conservative fanbase off guard. It marked the first time Chip and Joanna have publicly presented any progressive stance of their Christian faith.
From the start of their rise to fame, the couple have always been open about their Christianity. It is in effect part of their brand.
In 2016, Chip and Joanna sat down with a pastor of a local church, Jimmy Seibert, to talk about ‘their faith, family, and how God is fulfilling His purposes in their lives’.
In a Buzzfeed report published that November, Seibert was accused of openly opposing LGBTQ+ rights.
The article cited a sermon from Seibert, in which he claimed that ‘homosexuality is a sin’ and that ‘God is able to give us power over every sin, including homosexuality’.
Antioch Community Church, which is led by Seibert and attended by Chip and Joanna, was also called out for its stance on gay marriage.
On its website, the congregation states it ‘has consistently upheld a stance of clarity and compassion’ that the ‘practice of homosexuality is sinful, and compassion toward those who sin sexually, experience sexual confusion or deal with unwanted sexual desires’.
However, Seibert later denied accusations he’s anti-gay, telling Fox News that Antioch is ‘not only not anti-gay, but we are pro-helping people in their journey to find out who God is and who He has made them to be’.
Chip and Joanna did not issue a response until 2021, when they appeared to address the allegations in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
‘Sometimes I’m like, “Can I just make a statement?”‘ Joanna told the outlet.
‘The accusations that get thrown at you, like you’re a racist or you don’t like people in the LGBTQ community, that’s the stuff that really eats my lunch – because it’s so far from who we really are. That’s the stuff that keeps me up.’
Chip and Joanna addressed anti-gay backlash in 2021, with the mother of five telling the Hollywood Reporter: ‘It’s so far from who we really are’
Joanna, whose mother is a Korean immigrant, has recently opened up about her experience growing up half-Korean in a predominantly white town
Joanna – whose mother, Nan Stevens, is a Korean immigrant – has also been open about her experience growing up half-Korean in a predominantly white town in Kansas, where she recalled being bullied in school.
She’s since spoken about her journey to embrace her Korean heritage and has featured traditional Asian recipes in her cookbooks and on the Magnolia Network.
These days, it seems Chip and Joanna have come a long way from featuring no openly LGBTQ+ clients on Fixer Upper, to including a same-sex couple with two children born via surrogacy on Back to the Frontier.
But the question remains: will the backlash from their loyal conservative fan base damage the $50 million empire they’ve worked so hard to build? Or is it simply a one-season ‘scandal’ that they will ride out and swiftly move on from? Time will tell.
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Chip and Joanna for comment.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .