Chip and Joanna Gaines Reflect on Entering the ‘Second Part’ of Their Marriage After 20 Years

After two decades of marriage, Magnolia Network’s Chip and Joanna Gaines are entering a new era together.

“Jo and I are in this beautiful moment. We’re evolving into each other,” Chip, 49, told People in an interview published on Monday, November 20. “It’s the second part of our marriage.”

The home improvement experts have come a long way since their 2003 wedding at the Earle Harrison House in Waco, Texas.

“I would say, as we’re getting older, I’m shifting and I’m more like Chip, and Chip is more like me,” Joanna, 45, told the outlet.

During their two decades of wedding bliss, the pair welcomed five children together: Drake, Ella Rose, Duke, Emmie Kay and Crew. Their eldest child, Drake, 18, headed off to college in September, marking a huge change for the family of seven.

“It’s this tension of joy and pain, all in one breath,” Joanna said of bringing her firstborn to college. “Even now when I’m setting the table, I have to consciously go, ‘Oh, there’s only six here.’”

Fans of Joanna know just how much spending time at home with her kids means to her. The Magnolia Table author’s Instagram page is full of videos of her making memories with Crew, 5, around their farmhouse, including gardening, cooking and decorating for the holidays.

“The greatest gift of having a kid go off to college and having a 5-year-old is that perspective,” Joanna reflected. “It’s not here forever. We don’t want to waste these moments.”

With all of the big changes happening in their lives, like the grand opening of their latest business venture, Hotel 1928, earlier this month, Chip and Joanna still have their own hobbies. The mom of five has recently gotten into horseback riding and has “a dream to barrel race.”

Joanna has also been beekeeping in her garden, documenting the process of harvesting honey with Crew on Instagram. To many Fixer Upper viewers, Chip was always seen as the jokester with a very playful personality. Now, Joanna is tapping into her adventurous side and is very high-spirited about what’s to come.

“It is more fun to be married to a Chip, than a Joanna. So I’m sorry for all those years where I was a bit of a dud,” she said, with Chip adding, “You were a stick in the mud for quite some time. You’re really starting to catch your second wind.”

The longtime couple have so many exciting things in the works amid all of the changes happening in their lives.

“I hope that it’s just the beginning,” Chip reflected on their lasting marriage. “I hope that we get to look back in 20 years from now and feel just as confident that we were meant to be. We really feel like we are in some ways just getting started.”