Chip and Joanna Gaines keep their five children out of the spotlight, which became more true the older they got. However, the proud parents still publicly celebrate their kids’ milestones on social media and in interviews. Even when they post them, they still mostly leave their faces out. But these snippets have offered rare insight into the life of Drake Gaines, Chip and Joanna’s oldest son. Between the social media posts and his appearances on “Fixer Upper,” we’ve learned a thing or two about him.

One of them is that Drake was named after a hotel in New York. “The Drake Hotel,” Joanna said on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in 2023. “That’s where we honeymooned and then our anniversary.” While it has since shuttered, “it was sort of this legendary hotel,” Chip explained. Another fact we’ve learned is that Drake has inherited his father’s sense of humor. In the final season of “Fixer Upper,” Drake showed he had taken a page from Chip’s playbook with his comeback.

After watching Drake play baseball, Chip asked him: “Did you think when you were on the mound, ‘I wish I was as handsome as my dad?” The then-12-year-old didn’t skip a beat. “Uh, no, because it’s already true,” he quipped. Drake burst into laughter, while Chip hilariously deadpanned. Father and son have an obvious bond, but Drake has grown up a lot since then. He is now an adult with his own ambitions and interests, though he’s never forgotten where he came from. 

Drake Gaines was the first of the brood to leave the nest, but he didn’t stray off too far. Born and raised in Waco, Texas, Chip and Joanna’s oldest child chose to attend the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in nearby Belton. That means he’s only a 45-minute drive away from the comforts of home. That seemingly suits him well. In his father’s eyes, Drake may be a bit too into the comforts of home. “With Drake, we needed to send him to college to teach him basic survival skills, like how to do laundry,” Chip told Today in May.

In this, Drake contrasts sharply with his sister, Ella Gaines, who chose to leave Texas behind and attend college “across the country.” Despite the physical proximity and his father’s lighthearted jokes, Drake’s moving away marked the end of a season for the Gaines. “Our family dynamic will change because of it, and that can feel like a loss of its own. I catch glimpses now of what that life will look like and wonder if — or how many times — that might bring me to the floor,” she penned in Magnolia Journal in 2022. 

The end of each summer continued to be hard on his mother. “Second year in college… saying goodbye doesn’t get easier,” Joanna captioned a 2024 Instagram post featuring a photo of the two in an embrace (seen above). Things hadn’t improved by the following year. “Lord, how do I hold them close while also letting go?” she poured in an August post.

If his college major is any indication, Drake Gaines plans to follow in his famous parents’ footsteps. According to the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor website, Drake is studying business entrepreneurship. In 2019, Joanna Gaines shared that her eldest had always been interested in the family business. “Drake loves the production side, so in the summer he’s up with the guys, and they’re teaching him how to edit,” she told People.

She wasn’t surprised. After all, Joanna had been taking Drake to work with her since he was a tiny baby. “Drake was my little shop baby and he came to work with me every day. I was either wearing him on me or he was sleeping in the pack n play behind the counter,” she wrote in a February 2021 Instagram post to celebrate his 16th birthday. As their business grew and evolved into the empire we know today, Joanna and Chip Gaines continued to expose their kids to their work environment.

“They love being here,” she said. “I always try to involve them with what we’re doing at work.” However, he didn’t inherit the deco skills as his mother — at least in her opinion. After he moved to college, Joanna went up to Belton to decorate his dorm, but he felt like adding his own touch to it. His parents were not impressed by the results (seen above). “He bought some lights on Amazon and strung them throughout his whole apartment. Now it looks like a club,” she told Today. 

Drake Gaines doesn’t dedicate all his energy to business entrepreneurship in college. He also plays baseball for the Crusaders, UMHB’s baseball team. Standing at 5 feet 10 inches and clocking in at 180 pounds, Drake plays as an outfielder, according to the school’s website. However, he missed the 2024 season due to an unspecified injury. Before embarking on his college baseball career, Drake had already spent four years on the Valor Preparatory Academy varsity baseball team.

As it turns out, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Chip Gaines also once played baseball, having played on his high school team his senior year before moving on to Northlake College. However, he didn’t make the Bears after transferring to Baylor University. More so than himself, his parents were initially devastated. “I thought we were raising the next great superstar baseball player,” his father told the Dallas Morning News in 2015. It didn’t last long, though. “Instead, I raised the next great father, husband and businessman.”

Disappointing as that was, Chip continued to love the sport — and the Bears! In 2016, he showed his support for his alma mater. “Can’t wait for September 2nd to watch Coach Grobe lead @bufootball @mclane_stadium! Me and the boys had a blast yesterday and can’t wait to watch our Bears rock and roll!” he captioned a 2016 Instagram post that showed Drake shaking the coach’s hand. Joanna and Chip haven’t posted anything about their son’s abilities, but a YouTube user gave insight into Drake’s pitching (seen above).

Drake Gaines has a friend for life in his younger brother, Duke Gaines. Only three years apart, Drake and Duke have always been pretty tight, a bond Joanna Gaines couldn’t help but show off on social media despite her tendency to keep them off of it. In 2017, she posted a picture of the brothers stalling bedtime as they enjoyed each other’s company. The two sat atop a staircase building something, when their mother captured the sweet moment from the bottom of the stairs.

Even though routine is important, she couldn’t bring herself to interrupt the bonding moment. “Ok fine… ten more minutes,” she captioned the Instagram post. Eight years later, the brothers proved their relationship was stronger than ever when they rode a tiny bike all over their family farmhouse during the summer of 2025 (seen above). “These brothers are like our own version of Lloyd and Harry but on the farm,” Joanna captioned the June video, referring to the iconic characters of the ’90s classic, “Dumb and Dumber.”

It seems that no activity is too big or too small for this duo. Besides building stuff and running wild on the farm, they also enjoy spending some quiet time together with a cozy pastime. In the summer of 2019, Joanna shared a carousel that included a photo of them working on a puzzle with Chip Gaines on the kitchen table. “We have a serious puzzle competition going on over here #BoysVsGirls,” she captioned the post. 

Drake Gaines got his first taste of major autonomy in 2020. Freshly 15, he received his driver’s license that February, much to Joanna Gaines’ distress. While proud of the young man her oldest son was turning into, she mourned the little boy she once had. “My 15 year old little boy drove home with Chip [Gaines] and all of a sudden he is all grown up,” she wrote on Instagram. It was a bittersweet moment, but she knew it was ultimately a sign she had done her duty right.

“Parenthood is all about training these babies up to eventually let them go,” she added. As parents everywhere know, these realizations are much more often easier said than done. As Chip revealed, Joanna had second doubts about the process from beginning to end. “I was so excited leading up to it, and Jo was too, kind of,” he told People in 2021. But then it hit her. “The first morning he goes to drive, Jo bawls her eyes out,” he said.

Joanna just wasn’t as ready to let her first baby out into the real world as she thought. “She was just devastated and wanted no part. She wants to hire him a chauffeur!” Chip shared. But even Chip admitted he had been nervous about Drake having a driver’s license. “You think about these little ones driving and dating, and it really does put the fear of God in your heart,” he told People in 2019.