Chip Gaines grew up thinking that his destiny was to be the star of every show — until he met his wife, Joanna.
In the personal piece, titled “Best Supporting Role,” the home renovation expert explains that he always believed that he was meant for the spotlight, even considering that he might grow up to be the President of the United States — “In my dreams, it was me standing at the podium giving the State of the Union address to millions of Americans,” he writes.
Perry Hagopian
Magnolia Journal
Joanna, on the other hand, had no interest in fame, and would actively avoid the spotlight, he says.
Somewhere around Season 2 of the show, Chip says, he realized that he was not meant to be a star in the same way he had always imagined — but Joanna was.
When the execs asked the couple a question, Chip stepped right up with an answer he says he’d “been rehearsing since birth . . . I all but expected a standing ovation. Everyone around the table would respond to me with these expressions of amazement and bewilderment, not at how incredible my answer had been, but because they had no earthly idea what I was talking about.”
But when Joanna wouldperk up and say a few words, he says, people listened.
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“The reality was, when Jo spoke, it changed the dynamic of our meetings,” he says. “People would straighten up in their chairs and lean in . . . I was slowly realizing that this universe we’d stepped into was actually built for Joanna in the lead role, not for me.”
Chip recalls it was at that moment he decided he would take on thesupporting role in their working relationship, cheering on the mother of his five children — Drake, 14, Ella Rose, 13, Duke, 11, Emmie Kay, 9, andCrew, 1— as she learned to shine.
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“Any fantasy I’d concocted about my own future paled in comparison to the potential I was seeing in Jo,” he writes. “You see, something is built into the fabric of Joanna’s being that is quietly compelling and meant to be shared with the world. She’s a visionary. She’s captivating. Even though it may not resemble what I thought those qualities were supposed to look like.”
“The role I thought I was born to play ended up not being the one intended for me,” Chip says. “Instead, I’ve accepted my supporting role, a role I’m actually honored to play. And I gotta tell you, it’s been the absolute joy of my life!”
The Spring 2020 issue ofMagnolia Journalis available on newsstands February 14.
source: people.com
