In a new interview, television personality Chip Gaines shared that he and wife Joanna have had "trials and errors" in their relationship, but divorce has never been an option.
Gaines made the remarks while sitting beside Joanna during an interview with Access Hollywood after being asked if there was "ever a moment" where they thought they might "throw in the towel" on their relationship.
Chip and Joanna Gaines have been married 18 years and have five children.
"The one thing that I would say is our superpower is that Jo and I are not quitters," Chip answered. "Throwing in the towel is not something that honestly ever even comes to mind. I would say that that happened pretty early in our relationship where we just thought ... that divorce or leaving one another is not really an option for us.
"And so somehow, that little foundation has definitely served us well, because things have definitely been challenging. We're not perfect, and we have issues and trials and errors just like anybody. ... I would admit if we had considered that along the way. But relationally, we're in it forever. ... This will never be a gossip mag that we don't make it."
Their belief in not quitting, he added, extends to their career, which survived the housing market crash of the late 2000s and the early 2010s, when they were flipping and renovating homes.
"Jo and I had multiple opportunities to quit and throw in the towel, and that was just not in our DNA," he said of their job. "And so now I think we've taken that and realize that ... you can't ever lose if you don't quit. Joe and I keep showing up day after day. Sometimes it's right, sometimes it's not. But we keep putting one foot in front of the other."
Their hit television series, Fixer Upper, launched in 2013. They are launching their own network, the Magnolia Network, on July 15.
They have discussed their Christian faith in multiple venues, including in their 2016 book, The Magnolia Story, and in an "I Am Second" interview.
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Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Noam Galai/Stringer
Video courtesy: ©Access
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
