HGTV’s sweetheart couple Chip and Joanna Gaines on what reignited their 22-year marriage

Chip and Joanna Gaines revealed how they have reignited their 22-year marriage with a “new thing” that helps them feel like newlyweds.

The power couple and founders of the Magnolia Network spoke with People magazine for a new special edition, “Chip & Joanna Gaines: Their Next Chapter,” that came out this month. The former HGTV stars celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary in May, and they spoke with the magazine about how they have worked to keep the spark alive amid their busy lives.

New hobbies and activities, including dance lessons and working out together, have afforded the duo a strong, and sometimes “awkward” way to stay connected as they navigated their business ventures and raised five children, daughters Emmie, 15, and Ella, 18; and sons Crew, 7, Duke, 16, and Drake, 20.

“What we’ve realized in 22 years of marriage . . . is we still feel like newbies. Anytime you unlock a new thing, and you do it together, it only grows your relationship,” Joanna Gaines, 47, told the publication.

She went on to reveal that one of the new activities is dancing.

“I hired this couple; they came to our office and taught us how to dance,” she explained.

“Just she and I with this couple. You talk about awkward,” husband Chip, 50, joked.

But the new activity gave their marriage an “awakening,” according to Joanna.

“You see insecurities, you see strengths, and it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s a new awakening,’” she said.

“Chip’s little feet trying to keep up! And then I’m stiff as a board. We’re just so bad,” Joanna joked about their efforts.

“All this time I thought I was the coolest two-stepper,” her husband said. “Back in college you’d go to these little dive bars, and you danced with the girls.”

“For this guy to be calling me out, for Jo to be laughing hysterically the whole time, I’m like, ‘What is happening?’” he added.

“[When we started] we didn’t know how to hold our hands. It’s hard to make eye contact with even your best friend and wife of 22 years. I felt really strange, awkward,” Chip recounted.”But then, after two or three weeks, we started looking forward to those lessons.”

“It was this sweet reminder that all of us could use refreshes and challenges in our relationships,” he added.

“I feel like dancing is the most symbolic way of talking about, as a couple, ‘How do you stay in sync in life?’ We do really good in real life, we have our rhythm. But with dancing, we were so off, it was surprising,” Joanna felt. “We’ve done everything else so well, but this we totally suck at! But it was beautiful.”

Along with dancing, the couple has also been working out together with celebrity trainer Don Saladino.

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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