Joanna Gaines reveals soul-weary experience that made her pause Magnolia brand

Joanna Gaines is opening up about why she stepped back from her Magnolia business empire three years ago.

The "Fixer Upper" star, 48, appeared on Hoda Kotb’s "Joy 101"podcast and explained why she and her husband Chip Gaines, 51, decided to take a three-month sabbatical from their lifestyle and retail brand.

"Chip and I, you know, we’ve been doing this business for almost 25 years," she told Kotb in the Sept. 7 episode. "So, that was the show we had stopped temporarily, and that was good, but it was also just a lot as we were building our company."

After nearly 25 years of continuously operating Magnolia, the pair "stopped seeing the vision" at the time, Gaines said.

"We stopped remembering, like, 'Why are we doing this?'" she said.

The pair decided to take the summer off, which she said "meant disappointing our team, disappointing a lot of things, to just up and leave."

"So it cost us something," Gaines added. "But that three months was time for us to go, 'We need a break. We need clarity. Why are we building this? What are we doing this for?' And so that was three years ago."

Gaines said the experience…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/entertainment/