Digital Cover celebrities© Anna Moneymaker

Joanna and Chip Gaines look like the picture-perfect couple in latest outing after admitting they 'fought like hell'

The Magnolia Network founders looked loved up!

Senior Editor
April 27, 2023

Joanna and Chip Gaines made a stunning appearance at the White House state dinner on Wednesday, looking like the perfect couple. 

Joanna donned a gorgeous black floor-length gown, while Chip, 48, looked dapper in a black tuxedo. 

The pair were all smiles at the event, hosted by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, which honored South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon Hee.

This glamorous outing comes after the couple candidly admitted that their relationship, like any other, has had its ups and downs.

Joanna and Chip look like the picture perfect couple© Anna Moneymaker

MORE: Chip and Joanne Gaines 'so excited' to finally share details of new show, Fixer Upper: The Hotel

MORE: Joanna Gaines shares rare glimpse of her children during 'dream' family trip

In an essay for the summer issue of their Magnolia Journal, Chip reflected on proposing to Joanna and purchasing their first house, recalling it felt like "just yesterday." 

He wrote: "All the old folks in our lives warned us that these years with young kids and big dreams would go by fast. That one day we’d look back and wonder where the time went. They were right."

Chip also shared the challenges they've faced together: "We've had to fight like hell for our family and learn to hold loosely what we can't control. But we did all that together. The two of us." 

The home renovation expert felt a whirlwind of change as he thought of the last two decades of his life with Joanna.

© Anna Moneymaker
Chip has admitted the couple fought like hell in the past

"In those 20 years, our world changed. But the one thing that didn't was the promise Jo and I made to one another at the altar in front of our family and friends," he continued. 

"They asked if we'd stick it out through thick and thin. We said yes, and we meant it. We still do." He added, 

"Marriage is interesting that way. Whatever I go through, Jo goes through. And whatever she goes through, I go through. Life has done us plenty of favors and showed us things we've been beyond blessed to see.

"We've also had some hard times—some the world knows about, and plenty it doesn't. Like anyone else, we've been sick and sad and hurt and lost and flat out of ideas on how to turn things around."

Chip and Joanna Gaines' Love Story

The Magnolia Market entrepreneurs first found fame flipping houses as the "Fixer Uppers" on HGTV. They pivoted away from the cameras in 2018 and have since been raising their five children while launching the Magnolia Network.

"Jo’s been focused on what it means to savor life. To savor the moments that, too often, we let slip away without a second thought. That word has taken root in my heart as well, but I’m finding that the moments I’ve savored the most over these past 20 years have also been the hardest ones," the carpenter wrote.

"I don’t want to let those times get away from me. I treasure those memories of hardship and struggle."

He added: "I treasure all the days our heads hit the pillow weary and worn-out from growing our family and our business. 

“Because those are the moments when we leaned on each other the most. I think that’s the formative part. The strength that’s sown when you’re building together."

"I’ve started to understand that hard times can go one of two ways. They can either break you apart or they can bond you together. I think the key is to decide which one it’s going to be long before it makes the choice for you."

The two have been happily married since May 2003, building Magnolia together and raising a family, including their sons Drake, 18, Duke, 14, and Crew, four, and daughters Ella, 16, and Emmie Kay, 13.

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