Chip Gaines Opens Up About His Marriage With Joanna & Life After 'Fixer Upper'

Sometimes celeb couples just seem to have it all together. But Fixer Upper's Chip Gaines opened up about his marriage with his wife Joanna and set the record straight: No one is perfect, even if you're totally in love and have hit television show. The father of four told Success magazine this month that his marriage runs on the same thing every one else's does. Hard work.

"It’s hard work. Jo and I have struggles and fighting and arguments just like anybody else," he recently told Success. "This isn’t like we got lucky and hit the lottery and the two perfect people fell in love."

Chip also shared that Joanna "refined" him, so to speak, as a man. Their success mainly comes from making sure they're paying attention to what matters to them. Both Chip and Joanna greed in the interview that leaving Fixer Upper might be risky and a little irresponsible, especially since it's been so successful, but that it feels like a "load has been lifted" knowing that they're moving onto the next chapter.

It's all about balance, Chip said. “I believe we are built to have thriving personal lives, and I think we’re built to have thriving professional lives. Where the error occurs is when one becomes secondary to the other," he told the publication. "In Jo and I’s life… we will always choose our family. We will always choose our marriage no matter what the opportunity, and the Fixer Upper conclusion is a decent example [of that]."

According to Chip, some of their colleagues couldn't understand why they would end the show at the height of its popularity. "People are like, ‘You’re crazy. You would be crazy to leave this thing at the height like this. Give it another year. Let it run out of gas,'" he explained to Success. Chip said that he and his wife just laughed and realized that that wasn't the kind of people they were. If you're not having fun and only wearing yourselves out, what's the point?

When the couple originally announced that the show was ending, they fielded tons of rumors that it was because their marriage was ending or that they were getting a divorce. But it really just felt like the best thing for them. Joanna understands why people immediately assume the worst. "I think it seems weird to kind of leave on a high note. I think for people, there has got to be a negative reason to that. I think that is not always how life has to be," the couple told E! News.

Joanna and Chip told E! News that nothing would change their minds at this point. "Unfortunately, I don't think if they came back and offered a billion dollars that we would step back at this point. We are pretty headstrong and when we feel like it is the right decision for our relationship, for our family, for our business, it would take an act of congress to knock us off that position," they told the outlet.

Instead of worrying about the state of their marriage and family, both of which appear to be doing just fine, fans should instead start focusing on all the good things that are still to come from Chip and Joanna. Yes, their show is ending, but they still have Magnolia Market if you ever take a trip to Waco, books coming out, new merchandise lines at Target — it's not like they're going to fall off the face of the Earth.

Hard work and family are the driving forces behind everything that Joanna and Chip do, so with or without a show, they're obviously most likely to succeed. As for the rest of us who depend on Fixer Upper marathons to bond with our partner on lazy Sundays, we'll all just have to figure out something else to do.

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