BY SHREYA MALI

Chip and Joanna Gaines nearly ended up with other partners before finding each other. Chip revealed in The Magnolia Journal (Fall 2017) that he spent over two years trying to convince an ex-girlfriend, Amy, to marry him—so seriously that he even asked her father for permission, which was denied. He finally backed off after receiving a letter from her father telling him to stop.

Joanna, meanwhile, recalled on The Tonight Show in February 2023 that coworkers once urged her to talk to a customer nicknamed “Hot John,” who happened to be Chip’s roommate. Too shy to approach him, she instead crossed paths with Chip—who struck up a conversation immediately.

Journalist Shreya Mali writes, “Chip would pop the question in 2002, only a year after that meet-cute. Joanna Gaines had a complete transformation into a bride in 2003 and welcomed five children with her husband in the following years. While their love story seems fated, a closer look hints that everything may not be as it seems. To better understand the weirder aspects of Chip and Joanna’s relationship, we chatted with Susan Winter, relationship expert and bestselling author of “Breakup Triage; The Cure for Heartache,” who tells us exclusively that their first date may have included some potential red flags.”

Chip and Joanna Gaines’ first date would have sent most people running

Chip arrived for their first date an hour and a half late. At this point, Joanna had written him off, but was encouraged by her friends just to meet this Mystery Man. Upon arriving, there was no apology nor were there plans for the evening.

Mali continues, “According to Susan Winter, Chip displayed “textbook bad behavior” on their first date. The relationship expert notes, “Waiting an hour and a half for a date to arrive indicates an excess of patience that could tolerate that type of personality. In that moment, a dispositional pattern was established.” However, Winter exclusively tells Glam that the odd pattern seemed to have worked for the couple.”

Chip and Joanna Gaines have no work-life balance

Mali writes, “Notably, in Joanna’s 2022 memoir “The Stories We Tell,” she admitted that the lines of their brand and themselves had become “intertwined” (via Today). Additionally, when Joanna spoke to People in March 2023, she shared that although she and her hubby tried their best to make work an off-limits topic during their romantic dinners, it somehow always weaseled its way back into the discussion, so at times there was “no clocking out.” During Susan Winter’s exclusive chat with Glam, she professes, “The biggest red flag I see in Chip and Joanna Gaines’ marriage is the need to refocus on the romantic partnership. Having secured tremendous success as business partners, the pivot they need now is to reinvest in the relationship itself.”

Winter further explains that it’s normal for people to put their romance on the back burner to focus on building a solid financial foundation in the early years of their relationship. However, she believes that it’s vital for couples like Chip and Joanna to reprioritize their relationship after finding their footing. Suffice it to say, they could make good use of a psychologist’s best tips for separating your work and home life.”

To find out the other strange twists and turns this couple has endured, Read More: