Joanna Gaines Has Tattoo Planned for When Husband Chip Gaines Dies

It’s all in the details! Joanna Gaines just announced she has a plan for memorializing her husband Chip Gaines when he dies, and it involves permanent ink.

“I always say, when he dies, I’ll go ‘one, six’ right there,” the designer, 42, said in the pair’s new Breaking New Ground: Expanding the Silos special on Discovery+. Joanna knows the exact place she’ll pay tribute to her 46-year-old husband, too: the inside of her wrist.

The number 16 is significant to the former HGTV star because it’s her partner’s very favorite. At Magnolia Market at The Silos, the couple’s Waco, Texas shopping destination, a store dubbed “No. 16” plays host to all of Chip’s favorite things, including baseballs and caps. “Anything we get of his now — his undies, his white tee shirts — we put No. 16 in it. It’s a thing,” the Fixer Upper alum explained on the special.

According to Joanna, the entire Gaines family has also adopted the number 16. The couple’s kids, sons Drake, 16, Duke, 12, and Crew, 2, and daughters Ella, 14, and Emmie Kay, 10, choose it for their sports jerseys and Joanna herself has “even inherited it a little bit.”

Chip and Joanna are no strangers to public declarations of love. Fans of gooey social media captions and calling each other “babe,” the real estate experts celebrated their 16th anniversary (no doubt a special one) in May 2019 with heartfelt posts. “16 years and it feels like we’re just getting started,” Joanna, 41, captioned an Instagram photo. “I love you Chip Carter Gaines #16.”

The duo, who have been married since 2003, decided to end the original run of their show Fixer Upper after season 5 in September 2017. The beloved series is set to make a return on their new network, Magnolia Network, which will launch in early 2022 following COVID-19 related delays.

In October 2020 a source revealed exclusively to Us Weekly that the Gaines credit their success to their differences.

“Neither of them makes a business decision without consulting the other,” the insider said. “They feed off each other’s creativity and are open to try something new. Their faith keeps them grounded and grateful for the success they’ve found.”

Ever the fan of symbolism, Joanna offered one more tattoo tribute idea: a squirrel. While she didn’t elaborate on the meaning, our source at the time did mention her love of animals, adding: “Jo’s always loved the outdoors … and she’s passed that on to her children too.”

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