Joanna Gaines’ love story could have looked a little different.
The Magnolia Network co-founder and Chip Gaines have been married for almost 20 years and built quite an impressive empire together. But before she met him, she almost tried to ask out his roommate, “Hot John.”
During a Valentine’s Day appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Joanna Gaines recalled first meeting her now-husband’s former roommate while working at her dad’s tire shop.
She said her co-workers would try and set her up with customers but would always turn them down. However, when she saw “Hot John” things changed.
“I got the courage to get up out of my office. I walk towards the waiting room, and John and I make eye contact. But I’m not really gifted at making conversation,” she told Jimmy Fallon. “So I looked at him and I’m like, ‘Now what?’ And so instead of going to the waiting room, I walk straight outside, like I was going to take a smoke break or something.”
“As I’m walking outside, Chip is coming in to get Hot John,” she continues. “And he intersects.”
Chip Gaines added that unlike his wife, he’s “incredible at eye contact.”
“I always have a one-liner planned for any occasion where you might meet one of the most beautiful women on the planet,” he said. “You must have that back-pocket line ready to rock. So she walked right past Hot John, thankfully, right into (my) loving arms.”
Chip Gaines went on to describe his friend as “tall, dark and handsome,” calling himself “sort of shorter, redder and frumpier.” Luckily, Joanna Gaines quickly added, “That’s my type.”
The two ended up chatting for a few minutes and before they knew it “love was in the air,” he said.
In May, the “Fixer Upper” couple will celebrate two decades of wedded bliss. They share five children together: Drake, 18, Ella, 16, Duke, 14, Emmie, 13, and Crew, 4.
Back in November during her visit to TODAY, the “The Stories We Tell” author reflected on the “gift” of having five kids ranging in ages.
“Just the perspective of having an almost 18-year-old and then this 4-year-old, I feel like is such a gift,” she told TODAY’s Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager.
She also reflected on the next step in her life and career, saying, “At 44, I feel like I’m stepping into a new season. Like, I have half my life, it’s been great, but now I want to really be intentional about what I carry with me as I move forward.”