8 Rumors About Chip Gaines We Couldn't Ignore

Despite his fame, there are plenty of things fans don't know about Chip Gaines. For example, he was flipping houses long before HGTV came knocking. In fact, he completed his first flip while still a student at Baylor University. He then met his current wife, Joanna Gaines, got her involved, and soon after that, their life took off. However, things haven't always been picture-perfect, and while he has experienced plenty of successes, there are also several tragic details that have marked Chip's life. These have ranged from financial struggles to dealing with the fame monster. 

Indeed, Chip confessed in 2018 that he simply couldn't handle the pressure of being in the spotlight anymore. "I felt caged, trapped," he told Cowboys & Indians shortly after the end of "Fixer Upper." This willingness to be honest and vulnerable, combined with his renovation skills and adorable relationship with Joanna, have gained Chip a legion of fans. That being said, there's also a shadier side to the DIY legend that is often overlooked. Here are all the eyebrow-raising rumors about Chip Gaines we simply couldn't ignore.

Magnolia Market is a go-to destination for "Fixer Upper" fans, so it's no wonder that its neighbors might want to profit off it. That was the case for the owner of a 1.4-acre lot next to the Waco, Texas shop, who leased his land as parking to Chip Gaines. However, once Daron Farmer, managing member of Head Properties, purchased the plot in July 2016, he decided he wanted to charge customers and staffers $10 to park there. Apparently, Farmer offered to sell his lot to Gaines, but the negotiations failed. That's when the reality TV star put up a metal gate at the start of the alley next to Magnolia Market, which allegedly blocked access to Farmer's property. This, in turn, caused the latter to file a lawsuit in December 2016, asking for the gate to be removed and for anywhere between $200,000 and $1 million in damages. "Chip is just trying to strong-arm me because he doesn't want to pay what I am asking for that lot," Farmer told Waco Tribune. For his part, Gaines argued via his lawyer that he put up the gate because he didn't want folks to think that Magnolia would charge them $10 for parking.

Ultimately, the suit was dismissed in August 2017 after Gaines agreed to buy the lot. "I'm glad that Chip and I were able to resolve the case peacefully and remove it from the court system," Farmer told KBTX. It's unclear how much Gaines paid, but the market value of the site was listed at around $777,000 at the time of purchase.

Chip Gaines has undergone a stunning transformation over the years, but one thing that hasn't changed is his faith. Both he and Joanna are devout Christians, and they have made no secret of their close friendship with their pastor and the founder of Antioch Community Church, Jimmy Seibert. However, said relationship became fodder for controversy in November 2016 when Buzzfeed reported on Seibert's stance against same-sex couples. The church's website proclaims that "marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman. " It's a belief Seibert has passionately defended time and again, like in June 2015 when he told his congregation, "Truth No. 1: Homosexuality is a sin" (via Buzzfeed). He went on to claim that folks can simply decide to identify differently, if they so wish. "I have seen hundreds of people personally change their direction of same-sex attraction," he proclaimed.

These controversial opinions soon had fans wondering if Chip and Joanna Gaines felt the same way. Initially, the couple kept mum on the matter, but Chip finally decided to address the speculation in a New Year's Eve post on his blog. "We care about you for the simple fact that you are a person, our neighbor on planet earth," he wrote, but he chose to keep his family's views fairly vague, rather than explicitly denouncing Siebert's views. "Our family wants to fight for a world that knows how to lovingly disagree," he added.

Less than a year after the fence fiasco that landed him in court, Chip Gaines was again slapped with a million-dollar lawsuit. As it turns out, before Chip joined forces with Joanna, he and two business partners, John L. Lewis and Richard L. Clark, worked together to found the now-famous real estate firm Magnolia Realty. However, as Lewis and Clark claimed in a 2017 lawsuit, they never got to reap any of its rewards because Gaines allegedly ditched them just two days before "Fixer Upper" premiered on HGTV. According to court documents seen by Us Weekly, Gaines paid his former partners just $2,500 each to gain full ownership of the brand in May 2013. While doing so, he made no mention of the show which would make Magnolia a household name, thus allegedly defrauding them. The duo also included a text message in the documents, which purportedly indicated that Gaines threatened to physically hurt Clark if he didn't sell his shares.

Lewis and Clark were seeking $1 million in damages, but Gaines' attorney, Jordan Mayfield was quick to shut down their claims. "It is disappointing to see people try to take advantage of the hard work and success of Chip and Joanna Gaines," Mayfield responded in his statement. In the end, the lawsuit was dismissed in February 2020, and Gaines actually countersued Lewis and Clark, alleging defamation. That second suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in July 2023.

Joanna Gaines' relationship with Chip Gaines has been going strong for over two decades; however, the famous duo almost didn't end up together. Indeed, Joanna was ready to write him off after their first date, but that's not the only weird thing about Chip and Joanna's marriage. As it turns out, Chip was really, really committed to marrying another woman after college. This revelation soon sparked rumors that Chip had a secret wife before Joanna, but the reality was slightly different from that.

Chip came clean in a 2017 issue of The Magnolia Journal in which he recalled dating a mystery woman he called "Amy" while in college. They were together for over two years, but when she asked where their future was headed, Chip admitted he hadn't really thought about it. Amy was understandably hurt and the relationship fell apart, but suddenly, Chip became set on winning her back. "I felt convinced that Amy was the one," he wrote (via People). "I walked off that plane hell-bent on making that young woman my wife."

Despite her disinterest and Amy's parents actually declining Chip's request for her hand in marriage, he kept pushing. He didn't stop his pursuit until Amy's father sent him a "very kind but stern letter that expressed his concerns over my level of persistence." According to Chip, this early lesson in love then opened him up to meeting his actual future wife, Joanna.

Owning a "Fixer Upper" home may seem like a dream for many HGTV fans, but according to Ken and Kelly Downs, it's not all it's cracked up to be. The couple, whose house was featured on the show's third season, were not happy with their new reality. "We've lived here a year and a half and we feel deceived by the city of Waco and Magnolia Realty," Kelly told Waco Tribune-Herald in July 2017, noting how noise from bars and shops on their street is non-stop. What's more, the couple said locals made them feel unwelcome, blaming them for the high property taxes they've had to contend with since the success of the show. "We have been intimidated and harassed," Kelly shared, musing, "It's like the Wild West here." The situation came to a head when an alleged drunk driver smashed his car through the front of their home while they slept just a few rooms away. The homeowner slammed the series, saying, "This is a 'Fixer Upper' gone bad."

Journalist Ryan Britt also accused Chip and Joanna of showcasing falsehoods on TV. "The average family, like mine, doesn't qualify for the types of loans the 'Fixer Upper' clients have," he wrote in a 2019 Fatherly column, adding that even if they did, the reality of renovating it wouldn't be as breezy as the DIY couple makes it seem. "These sorts of overhauls often cost more at the end of the day than just buying an upper and not fixing s***," he concluded.

Chip and Joanna Gaines are famous for turning fixer uppers into gorgeous new homes, but it seems that what lies beneath the surface isn't always as pretty. In June 2018, Magnolia Homes was ordered to pay a $40,000 fine to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violating the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP Rule) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Said rule dictates that contractors need to take special steps when working in older homes with lead paint in order to minimize the risk of potential lead exposure. According to the EPA, Chip and Joanna failed to follow these standards across 33 properties they renovated in Waco, Texas. Magnolia Homes also agreed to complete $160,000-worth of lead abatement work around the Waco area as part of its settlement.

However, it's not just the government that has taken issue with their work. In 2021, a Redditor claimed they had friends who backed out of purchasing a home featured on "Fixer Upper" because its wiring didn't pass an FHA loan inspection. According to the Reddit user, Chip tried to pressure the couple into using his inspector instead. "They refused and he was SCREAMING at them in the front yard of the house," the commenter alleged.

When Chip Gaines' sister, Shannon Braun, ran for a seat on the Grapevine-Colleyville ISD (GCISD) school board in Colleyville, Texas in May 2021, she received plenty of support from her family. Indeed, Chip and Joanna Gaines donated $1,000 to her campaign, which wouldn't have been much to talk about if it were not for Braun's controversial views on critical race theory (CRT). In a video posted to Facebook, Braun called it "the single most divisive threat that we have in education" and vowed to keep critical race theory out of the school district for good. CRT teaches that racism is inherent in America because various laws and policies make it difficult to eradicate.

Initially, Chip and Joanna kept quiet on the matter but ultimately addressed it the following month. "The accusations that get thrown at you, like you're a racist or you don't like people in the LGBTQ community, that's the stuff that really eats my lunch," Joanna said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "It's so far from who we really are." As for Chip, he pointed out that they strive to make their own company as diverse as possible but conceded, "As an American white male, it's hard to be perfectly diverse."

There are numerous controversial things everyone ignores about Chip and Joanna Gaines, but one of the biggest rumors is that they may have actually hurt their community, not helped it. The reality TV couple put Waco, Texas on the map but, according to locals, that has come with too many negatives. As fans flock to explore and shop in Waco, local businesses are indeed earning more, but the influx of curious folks has resulted in a housing crisis. Home prices are skyrocketing, property taxes are climbing, and countless properties are being turned into short-term rentals. As Waco realtor Pam Hanson told Chron in 2022, homes in downtown Waco jumped from $18 a square foot to a whopping $300 in just a few years. This, in turn, is forcing locals to leave because they can no longer afford to stay. Speaking of one of her clients, Hanson shared, "He's being forced out of a home that he's earned for 30 years — that's not the American dream."

Indeed, a Reddit thread asking Wacoans what they think of Chip and Joanna Gaines is inundated with negative responses. "Literally ruined our community," wrote one user. "Taxes skyrocketed and so did the housing market." Another shared their personal story, sharing, "I tried to buy a house last year for $150,000 and I was outbid by a Californian couple for a hell of a lot more." And it's not just housing that has become problematic. "Remember when you could actually drive somewhere downtown midday?" mused one redditor.