Joanna Gaines just made a major revelation about the three-month break she and her husband, Chip Gaines, took after 25 years of working together.
The 48-year-old interior designer and business owner shared the update during a recent appearance on Hoda Kotb's Joy 101 podcast.
"Chip and I, you know we've been doing this business for almost 25 years," Joanna explained. "So, [Fixer Upper] was the show we had stopped temporarily, and that was good, but it was also just a lot as we were building our company."
© InstagramShe went on: "As far as Magnolia, we've been doing this for almost 25 years and we’ve never really stopped. And about three years ago, we stopped seeing vision. We stopped remembering like, 'Why are we doing this?'"
Chip and Joanna, who are parents of five children, decided to take a break from their business. "I remember I was like, 'Okay, we’re going to take the summer off,' which meant disappointing our team, disappointing a lot of things, to just up and leave," the Magnolia co-founder shared.
© Instagram"So it cost us something. But that three months was time for us to go, 'We need a break. We need clarity. Why are we building this? What are we doing this for?' And so that was three years ago."
For Joanna, the time off helped her refocus, it also helped her separate some of her personal and work feelings. "I think once you start realizing those moments of maybe burnout, you never really want to experience that again," she explained to Hoda. "So now the discipline is, the daily discipline of 'I feel it creeping up.'"
© Joanna Gaines on InstagramInside Joanna and Chip Gaines' relationship
Joanna and Chip met in 2001 at Joanna's dad's auto shop in Waco, Texas. But, while they ended up together, it wasn't a sure thing. "It wasn't love at first sight for Chip and me. For one thing, I was typically attracted to guys who were more on the quiet side," Joanna wrote in an essay for Magnolia Journal.
© InstagramBut after they started dating, the rest was history. In 2002, the couple got engaged and they tied the knot the following May. Work was always part of their relationship. In October 2003, Chip and Joanna opened Magnolia Market in Waco and flipped their first house. Since then, the couple starred in the HGTV show Fixer Upper and expanded Magnolia into a magazine, bed and breakfast, and network.
Throughout their major work success, they started their family. Joanna and Chip are parents to five children – Drake, 21, Ella Rose, 19, Duke, 18, Emmie Kay, 16, and Crew, eight. The family lives on a farmhouse that sits on 40 acres of land. Of course, Joanna renovated it to perfection.
