The reality TV star is out with a new book and it pulls back the cover on some of the challenges and setbacks he's faced.
Chip Gaines and his wife Joanna shot to fame as hosts of Fixer Upper on HGTV between 2013 and 2018. After a multi-year hiatus, they have relaunched the show as Fixer Upper: Welcome Home on their new Magnolia network, which debuted this year in partnership with Discovery.
The Christian couple grew both wealthy and famous from the original program, renovating houses in the environs of Waco, TX where they live. But as Chip makes clear in his new book, No Pain, No Gaines: The Good Stuff Doesn't Come Easy, the journey has not be a bed of roses.
He details one instance when he and his children were at a flea market and his then youngest child wandered ahead of the group, becoming separated. This morning on the Today show, Chip explained that as he was preparing to go after the boy, he was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of fans taking pictures and speaking with him. Gaines was torn between the need to get his son "back in a safe place" and to "resonate with these people and trying not to be rude."
The 46-year old father of five calls it "a bit of a sad moment" as it dawned on him "that fame had sort of overwhelmed and taken over my entire life." Adding that his celebrity status had "superseded who I was as a father and as a person," he understood he needed to really take stock.
"It sort of forced me to reconcile with whether or not all of this was worth it in some of those kind of big life decisions you have to make in these cases."
His book, from Christian publisher Thomas Nelson, promises to help readers build "a network of people you can count on," for just such circumstances, and it features "hard-won lessons and personal stories," according to the synopsis. Gaines says he "poured his heart and soul" into it, which that anecdote above seems to make clear.
No Pain, No Gaines: The Good Stuff Doesn't Come Easy is available now and this link to Magnolia will show you exactly where to find it. And if you'd like to watch that Today show interview, you can do so via this link to the program's website.