Joanna Gaines Addresses Social Media ‘Accusations’ in Passionate Essay

Joanna Gaines reveals the social media bullies have had some effect on her and her family since reaching famous status. The Fixer Upper: Welcome Home star admits that the trolls on the internet have taken a toll on her mental health, but she’s found healthy ways to cope with the added eyes. “Some years ago, Chip and I found ourselves in a world we’d never known with no instructions or road map,” she says of herself and her husband of 17 years.

She continued: “When our show took off, we couldn’t have imagined all the beauty and blessings that would follow for us and for our family — all of which we’re continually grateful for,” says Gaines. “But it didn’t take us long to realize that being a part of this new reality also meant being a part of the news cycle. Stories get written about us, about our family, our plans, our supposed beliefs and politics.’ We’ve been through it enough now to know that it’s just part of the territory, and a lot of times it’s so unbelievable we can’t help but laugh.”

The mom of five went on to add that things have gotten easier for the family, but it’s still a constant problem that rears its head. “Every now and then, a headline or story will strike a nerve regardless of how off the mark it may be. Those times are harder to reconcile because we’re human, and the idea that ‘it’s just part of the territory’ doesn’t make untrue accusations any less painful,” Gaines writes. Her husband Chip, more often than not, typically handles these situations better than her, she says. But there are times that she wants to go on the offensive to set the record straight. “Then there’s me, the one who wants to right the wrong. Who wants to call foul because I thought we all knew to play fair,” she says.

The couple opened up earlier this summer about the accusations that had been thrown at them over the summer, telling The Hollywood Reporter that they weren’t big fans of the charges that had been hurled at them. “The accusations that get thrown at you, like ‘You’re a racist or ‘You don’t like people in the LGBTQ community’ — that’s the stuff that really eats my lunch, because it’s so far from who we really are,” she told the outlet. “That’s the stuff that keeps me up,” they said. “As an American white male, it’s hard to be perfectly diverse,” Chip told THR. “In our own company, we’ve got nearly 700 employees, and one of our biggest passions is making this group represent all people.”