Chip Gaines has realized the value of keeping things in perspective. Gaines, whose most recent book, “No Pain, No Gaines,” is presently available, remembered the precise second he recognized that fame had become too much for him to handle.

When a melancholy thought struck him, he realized that celebrity had practically taken over and consumed his entire existence.

Gaines made his way to the flea market that he, his wife Joanna, and their family frequented. Gaines then walked off ahead of the youngest youngster, Duke, who was still about 10 yards away. But as soon as he got there, people started to swarm around him, eager to see him.

“The experience had begun to feel a bit normal for us because we had reached the point in our careers where we were recognizable in public. I somehow lost touch with Duke at that very moment, though.” 

And so, he continued, “I was basically on my way to kind of get him up and bring him back into a safe place, and at about that same second, I was encircled by this bunch of individuals,” adding that the fans were asking about his wife, squeezing his cheeks once, and requesting to take pictures.

Gaines and Joanna are now parents to five kids, and he claims that the incident transformed him and made him more aware of how he should live.

“Only when I understood that I couldn’t adequately express that I was a father attempting to get my son into a safe place did the chain of events become unsettling. I tried not to be disrespectful, but I also tried to connect with these people.”

The co-founder of Magnolia, who is 46 years old, claimed that the celebrity lifestyle had begun to strip him of his identity. He found it shocking when he understood that he was no longer himself but rather a public figure. This revelation sent him into a spiral and made him forget who he was as a father and a person.

Even though “Fixer Upper,” Chip and Joanna Gaines’ television program ended a few years ago, they remain highly well-liked. On Discovery+, they have a new program called “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home.”

“It sort of forced me to think about whether or not all of this was valuable when it came to some of the important life decisions you have to make in these circumstances.”