The relationship between Chip and Joanna Gaines didn't exactly start off on the right foot.
Clearly, the story has a happy ending: They've been married for 17 years and have five kids together. But, in the upcoming issue of the couple's Magnolia Journal, Joanna revisits her thoughts on her earliest days with Chip - including their first date!
"It wasn't love at first sight," she said, in an exclusive sneak preview with People magazine.
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Joanna's reflections on her and Chip's early romance come in an essay titled "Slow Yes."
"For one thing, I was typically attracted to guys who were more on the quiet side. Based on our first date, it was clear that Chip was anything but quiet," she writes.
Chip "was all over the place," she continues. People added that, on the first date, he was "talking about all the companies he dreamed of starting, houses he planned on flipping and risks he was looking forward to taking."
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"I was wondering if he was just a bit crazy," Joanna writes. "In my mind, I somewhat instinctively checked his penchant for risk and chatty nature as two reasons we probably wouldn’t go on a second date."
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But in the piece, Joanna, now 42, notes being drawn to Chip's worldview of "untapped potential" and "plans and dreams."
"This near-stranger had drawn out a side of me that I didn't yet know existed. My gut told me there was something there worth waiting for. Our lives have beat to this same rhythm ever since," she adds.
The reality TV stars later married in 2003 and started their successful "lifestyle empire," Magnolia - which was to launch its own TV network in October 2020, but those plans have been delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Joanna's essay, "Slow Yes," appeared in the summer issue of Magnolia Journal, which came out on May 8. You can preview the front cover in the People feature.
