The Untold Truth Of Joanna Gaines

May 2024 · 2 minute read

So much focus has been put upon Joanna Gaines' husband and children, but less talked about is the family into which she was born. According to a profile in The Hollywood Reporter, Joanna is the daughter of an American father, Jerry, and a Korean mother, Nan, who emigrated from Seoul, South Korea, before she was born. She has two sisters and spent most of her formative years in Kansas before moving to Waco, Texas, as a high schooler. Interestingly, Chip Gaines is also a transplant to Waco, having arrived from New Mexico to attend Baylor University.

For Joanna Gaines (née Stevens), growing up as part of a biracial family in predominantly white areas means that she knows what it is like to feel different. She has recalled being othered in school and, in particular, watching her mother deal with anti-Asian sentiments. "I remember as a little girl being out with my mom and seeing how in a moment, a person's harsh look or an underhanded comment would attempt to belittle her rich story and her beautiful culture," she wrote in an Instagram post in March 2021. She told The Hollywood Reporter that she was often subjected to name-calling as a little girl in Kansas and Texas. "Growing up as half-Asian, half-Caucasian, I get what that feels like to not be accepted and to not be loved. That's the last thing I want anyone to ever feel," she told the publication.

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