Little-Known Facts About HGTV's Erin Napier
Since her show "Home Town" debuted in 2016, Erin Napier has become a major face on HGTV. Alongside her woodworking husband Ben, the interior designer renovates historic homes in her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, using salvaged materials and vintage textiles to maintain the authenticity of these classic properties.
As a reality TV personality, Erin similarly balances her HGTV persona with personal authenticity, sometimes feeling at odds with the picture-perfect reveals featured on "Home Town." While you can learn a lot about the host from her show, including how passionate she is about her hometown and just how much she loves her family, there are still quite a few little-known facts about Erin that go beyond her on-screen persona.
From her misfit childhood and professional background to her hidden talent and morning routine, the Mississippi native is truly a multi-faceted woman who values sincerity. With this in mind, here's a closer look at these little-known facts about Erin Napier.
The HGTV star didn't fit in with her peers as a kid
As an adult, Erin Napier might be a super popular TV personality, but the HGTV star revealed that she didn't always fit in with her peers. "I was a bit strange and introverted," she told Southern Living in 2020, adding that her childhood interests ranged from library time and historical dioramas to costume making and fossil collecting. Her shyness and unique interests resulted in her being excluded and bullied.
"I was the oddball sitting alone. The ugly duckling. I desperately wanted someone to want to sit by me on the bus," Napier once shared in an Instagram story (per Today). The "Home Town" host even recalled one instance when she was invited to play, but was ultimately left out, explaining, "One time, during hide-and-seek, I was it, and they all left me there and went to the house next door."
Despite often feeling like an outcast, Napier did have the support of her family and eventual friends to help foster her unique and creative interests. Now, she has all the success in the world to show off for it.
Napier's life before HGTV looked very different
Erin and Ben Napier have established themselves as a charming, house-flipping duo, but the renovation path isn't what Erin originally planned for herself. In fact, the Mississippi native actually studied graphic design, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Mississippi. As explained on the couple's website, Erin worked in corporate graphic design before she started Lucky Luxe, an international stationery company.
Accordingly, the couple started renovating houses after they graduated college and moved to Laurel, Erin's hometown. However, they didn't imagine that their small-town restoration projects would land them a show on HGTV. In fact, when HGTV executive Lindsey Weidhorn originally reached out to the couple, Erin was under the impression that she wanted to order some stationery. Turns out, she was actually interested in giving the duo their own show.
"We didn't think it would be possible," Erin said to House Beautiful. "Why would it be possible to make a TV show in a town like Laurel, Mississippi? We love it very much, but that doesn't mean everyone else would. So we had fun and never had any expectations." Fast forward, and their small-town renovation projects have spawned over 7 seasons and several spin-offs.
The Home Town host is a talented musician
While Erin Napier has some obvious talents, from her graphic design background to her renovation magic, she does have one ability that is lesser known. As she's shown off on her Instagram page in the past, the HGTV host is actually a very talented musician and singer, having played since she was a teenager.
"When I was 14, I started playing music at the coffee house in downtown Laurel to earn my money," the HGTV star explained in an Instagram post, noting that she did so throughout college. "My interests in art just kind of edged out my interest in music, and @scotsman.co still mourns it, always asking me to sing him a song."
If you look on YouTube, you can even find an old video of Napier performing a cover of Janis Joplin's "Bobby McGee" at an open mic night. More recently, the HGTV host was able to showcase her skills on an episode of "Home Town," as she and her husband took their clients Mike and Glenn to attend an open mic night. Even if her heart isn't in the music anymore, we still love hearing the interior designer exercise her musical muscles.
Napier had a perforated appendix for several years
Another little-known fact about HGTV personality Erin Napier is that she suffered from a mysterious health condition that went undiagnosed for several years. "In the beginning, it would be 24 hours of terrible stomach pain and a low-grade fever, and then it would disappear," Erin explained to People, first experiencing the symptoms when she was 19. "It became two days, then three."
Though doctors had several theories throughout the years, with Erin's husband Ben Napier mentioning that they even suspected cancer at one point, but CT scans and other medical tests showed no indication that anything was wrong. Finally, in 2014, an emergency exploratory surgery revealed that several of the Mississippi native's internal organs were bound together by scar tissue. A second procedure revealed that a perforated appendix was the cause of Erin's health issues.
"The first time it happened, when I was 19, it just partially ruptured. Not enough to kill me, just enough to make me sick," Erin explained. Her appendix had healed itself, with the scar tissue it formed eventually spreading to her other organs. Once her appendix and the resulting scar tissue had been removed, doctors told the interior designer that she might have trouble conceiving. While it was devastating news for Erin, she and her husband were able to start their family three years later, welcoming their first daughter in 2017.
She starts her mornings with a soda instead of coffee
While many people start their mornings with a cup of coffee or tea, Erin Napier reaches for a different drink. "I drink Coke in the morning, not coffee," she shared in "The New Southern Style: The Interiors of a Lifestyle and Design Movement" by Alyssa Rosenheck. "But Joan Didion did too, so I think it's fine."
Knowing they're a morning staple for the HGTV star, Erin's husband Ben will often make the sweet gesture of leaving a morning Coke out for his wife. "He wakes up at 5, I wake up at 6," she wrote in an Instagram post from 2020. "Every morning, a Coke and a note are waiting. I don't deserve you, @scotsman.co."
Besides her morning Coca-Cola, Erin revealed to HGTV that a bowl of cereal, either Frosted Mini-Wheats or Raisin Bran, is her other morning go-to. While soda wouldn't be our first choice, we appreciate that it's just one of the quirks that make up Erin Napier.