Chip and Joanna Gaines’ Secret to Their 20-Year Marriage Revealed: ‘She’s Ready for Another 20’

After 20 years of marriage and five children, Chip and Joanna Gaines are dating again! An insider says the lifestyle moguls have a new commitment: once-a-week date nights.

Per the insider, Chip, 49, and Joanna, 46, have an on-call sitter for their four youngest kids (their oldest son, Drake, went to college last fall) and they plan romantic dinners out, concerts and picnics at nearby Lake Waco.

“Joanna says spending alone time with Chip reminds her of what made her fall in love with him in the first place,” says the source of their marriage. “She’s ready for another 20 years.”

The home improvement duo — whose myriad home-centric projects include a cable channel, branded product lines, spinoffs of their popular Fixer Upper renovation show, a magazine and several brick-and-mortar stores in Texas — seem like they’re more in love than ever before.

But the changes around their Waco, Texas, farmhouse have certainly taken some getting used to. Joanna admitted that having her eldest child head off to college was a huge adjustment.

“In the grand scheme of heartbreaking things, this one comes with a lot of gratitude and excitement,” she wrote on her Magnolia Blog in August 2022. “But still, my first child is moving away, and our family dynamic will change because of it, and that can feel like a loss of its own. I catch glimpses now of what that life will look like and wonder if — or how many times — that might bring me to the floor.”

The Magnolia Table author felt “emotional” when Drake, 19, left their longtime home.

“Even though her youngest, Crew, is 5, she pictures a life without kids around,” an insider told Closer in November 2023 of how Joanna was handling the changes. “She talks to Drake as much as she can, and she sends him care packages, so that helps.”

The source went on to say that Joanna was “making more of an effort than ever to balance work and family.” The mom of five is “grateful for her busy life and especially her kids, she just doesn’t like the idea of all these changes.”

Drake also visits home as much as possible. In a September 2023 Instagram Story, Joanna revealed she was making her eldest child a special treat.

“When your kid comes home from college … you make all the things,” Joanna captioned a photo of a tray of cookies on her Instagram account.