Chip Gaines Says His Priorities Were Much Different Before He Met Wife Joanna: ‘I Was Too Selfish’

Seems like Chip Gaines thought he was going to be a bachelor for life! The Fixer Upper star recently revealed how his priorities were much different when he first met now-wife, Joanna Gaines, in 2001.

“I really wasn’t that guy,” the 44-year-old told People. “I dated girls whose goal in life was to get married and have kids. They had it all planned out, but I was too selfish. It was about me and what I wanted to do, and I didn’t have anything tying me down.”

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However, everything changed when he met Joanna, 41, while she was working at her father’s Firestone automotive shop in Waco, Texas. “It felt like there was this real transition. I matured and grew up,” he explained. “It just kind of clicked in my brain: ‘This is going to work.'”

Nearly two years after they first met, Chip and Jo tied the knot in 2003. Even though he clearly loved her, the red-haired hunk said there was an adjustment period. “I had to make a lot of changes,” he admitted. “I had to be a better person. But when I thought about the idea of being an 80-year-old man sitting on a rocking chair with my beautiful wife, and for she and I to have made it [that far], I got really excited.” So sweet!

Fast-forward to 2019 and life couldn’t be better for the former HGTV stars, who celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary on May 31. Besides running a multi-faceted company, Chip and Jo are the proud parents to their five kids — Drake, 14, Ella, 12, Duke, 10, Emmie, 9, and Crew, 11 months. “I tell my kids this a lot. She’s the one that makes this whole thing go around,” Chip gushed.

Although running a large business and raising their big brood can be hard, Chip and Jo couldn’t make it look easier. “Multitasking comes naturally to them, and they’ve mastered how to balance family life with keeping their marriage alive,” an insider exclusively told Closer Weekly in October 2018. “When the kids are in bed, Chip and Joanna enjoy date nights. Joanna loves to cook, and they’ll joke around in the kitchen together while she whips up Chip’s favorite dishes.”

We couldn’t be more happy for Chip and Jo!