‘I Was Too Selfish’: Chip Gaines on His Struggle to Leave His Bachelor Days Behind Before Marrying Joanna

Sixteen years and five kids later, Chip says he still makes mistakes every day. But for him, it’s those little mistakes that ultimately shape us for the better.

“I’ve forgotten birthdays,” he says. “Afterward you’re like, ‘I’m the worst person.’ But I’m a firm believer that it’s the mistakes that make us who we are.”

And like a true southern gentleman, Chip Gaines points his successes both professionally and in their marriage, to Joanna — the woman who caused him to want to be a better man in the first place.

“I tell my kids this a lot. She’s the one that makes this whole thing go around.”