Chip and Joanna Gaines have had one of the most beloved relationships on reality television since Fixer Upper premiered in 2013, and now they want to ensure their union stays strong offscreen.
“They don’t want anything to affect their marriage,” a source tells Us Weekly exclusively of the couple’s choice to end the HGTV series with season 5. “They want to focus on raising their kids and being a family since their kids are getting older.”
However, the couple’s relationship is still exactly what it appears to be while filming. “They’re both so genuine and just great people,” a different insider says. “They act just like they do when the cameras are rolling. It’s all real; they’re not fake at all.”
Adds a third source: “They’re regular people. Their kids are regular kids, and I think they want to raise them like that.”
As previously reported, the parents of Drake, 12, Ella, 10, Duke, 9, and Emmie, 7, shocked fans on September 26, when they announced the series would be ending.
“It is with both sadness and expectation that we share the news that season 5 of Fixer Upper will be our last,” the couple wrote in a blog post. “While we are confident that this is the right choice for us, it has for sure not been an easy one to come to terms with. Our family has grown up alongside yours, and we have felt you rooting us on from the other side of the screen. How bittersweet to say goodbye to the very thing that introduced us all in the first place.”
“This is just us recognizing that we need to catch our breath for a moment,” they continued. “Our plan is to take this time to shore up and strengthen the spots that are weak, rest the places that are tired and give lots of love and attention to both our family and our businesses.”
