Joanna and Chip Gaines are bracing for their family home to become the slightest bit emptier, as their oldest daughter Ella Gaines prepares to leave the nest.
The 18-year-old graduated from high school earlier this year, and will head off to college in the fall, joining her older brother Drake, 20, and leaving behind her younger siblings Duke, 17, Emmie, 15, and Crew, seven.
While Joanna, 47, and Chip, 50, have already experienced the same rollercoaster of emotions once before with their oldest, they’re feeling a whole different wave now with Ella.
“Ella, our second kiddo, she’s graduating this year, so we’re going through that again with another kid leaving the nest and trying to stay emotionally stable,” Joanna told People.
She remarked that she was “excited” for her daughter to leave her family’s legacy behind in Texas, thanks to their lifestyle empire Magnolia, and carve out a niche for herself, independent of the Gaines fame.
“She’s excited about going somewhere and just being known for her,” the mom-of-five noted. “She’s like, ‘I don’t want anyone knowing that you’re…I just want to go and be myself.'”
© Getty Images“I’m excited for her to learn. She’s about to see some stuff. She’s going to teach us stuff,” she continued.
When Chip asked her whether it would be harder than Drake’s departure, Joanna replied: “Yes. I think there’s an emotional difference. With Ella, we love to go to antiques shops, plant shops and go get coffee – that’s our rhythm. I kind of feel like I’m losing a friend in my everyday life.”
She added: “It feels like what’s coming this summer will be a tidal wave of emotions, and I am not going to brace; I’m going to stand there and take it with him.”
© InstagramChip joked that while Ella will be off learning about the world beyond their home, he’s still trying to figure out how things are changing in his own circle. “I feel like a grandpa learning. I don’t feel perfectly equipped to manage some of these very interesting modern-day things that some of these kids are going through.
“So she’s going to get thrown in the deep end, man. I’m very excited about that.”
He noted also that within the next four years, the youngest of their teens, Emmie, will have graduated as well. “What are we going to do with this chaotic, crazy life that we’ve built for ourselves?”
© Chip GainesDrake is a student at a college in Texas, close to the family home, but the former Fixer Upper hosts previously alluded to Ella setting her sights on a university much further away, although they haven’t revealed her exact choice so as to maintain her privacy.
“Ella has thought about Korea [Joanna’s mother is Korean], she’s thought about sunny Southern California,” Chip previously told TODAY. “She’s not going to be in the Central Texas area when she goes on to her next chapter. She seems excited to be able to spread her wings and do something very unique and outside the bubble.”
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