Chip and Joanna Gaines sat down with Oprah for an honest look at how fame impacted the couple.
While onscreen, Chip Gaines appears to be happy-go-lucky and carefree, in real life, the spotlight was very difficult for the former HGTV star. Chip’s difficulties with fame pushed the couple to take a year off their hit show Fixer Upper before the series ultimately ended in 2018.
“I have discovered that fame is just, your life is the same, you’re the same, and everybody has an idea of what that is, it’s just more people know your name. And I think if you don’t know who you are when the fame thing hits then you lose yourself,” Oprah began.
Oprah opened the floor for future discussion and asked if the pair initially stepped away from the show to “reground.” Chip, 46, was quick to go on record. Chip stated:
“Really what happened — and was the truth for Jo and I — was it was no big deal for her, but for me to become famous, I lost a part of myself that was really… it was sad. I would say it took me a year or two while I was still filming to try to grapple with what exactly it was that I was losing.”
Chip revealed that during their break from the spotlight, he and Joanna were able to “hunker down and really kind of try to unpack what it was about fame that seemed so incompatible with my personality.”
For more on the Gaines’ interview with Oprah, check out the video below.