Beautiful homes, lush gardens, and tall picket fences can't protect you from tragic loss.
These moments in time have changed the trajectories of HGTV stars' lives, and there's no doubt
that they've really been through it all.
Christina Hall has been on the HGTV scene since 2013 and has battled it all — both
on and off the screen.
From difficult remodels to her bitter custody battle with her ex-husband Ant Anstead, Hall's
life in the limelight has been a struggle.
However, nothing has come close to the heartbreak she felt at the end of one particular job.
On February 9, 2023, "Christina in the Country" dedicated an episode to Dr. Jessica Waldron,
the sister-in-law of Hall's childhood best friend, Cassie Schienle.
In 2021, Waldron was diagnosed with ALS, which according to the ALS Association is a "progressive
neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord."
Hall wrote on Instagram that Waldron's disease spread quickly:
"By mid 2022, she lost mobility of her legs, had to use a wheelchair and began to lose
feeling in her hands."
So, Hall and the HGTV team decided to work together to remodel Jessica's home in the
hopes of making it more accessible for her.
Although the team worked tirelessly to complete the remodel, tragedy struck on November 3,
2022, when Waldron died at 39 years old.
When the episode aired, Hall and Schienle shed tears as they remembered their friend
and family member.
During an interview with People, Hall confessed:
"Although she never got to see her home remodel complete, it was her vision for her family
and something I am proud to have done for them."
In January 2022, home improvement fans were given a brand new HGTV host to obsess over
in the form of Joe Mazza.
"Home Inspector Joe" helps families find and renovate their new homes, and Mazza makes
no secret of the fact that he's a stickler for safety with a keen sense of smell.
Amazingly, this heightened sense of smell is the result of a tragic health scare he
experienced at just 23 years old.
Mazza wrote on Instagram that he lost his eyesight due to an unforeseen condition that
affected both eyes.
He was diagnosed with keratoconus, which the Mayo Clinic describes as "an eye condition
in which your cornea — the clear, dome-shaped front of your eye — gets thinner and gradually
bulges outward into a cone shape."
During this period of blindness, Joe's senses were heightened, which helped him immensely
during his career as a home inspector.
He told Realtor,
"When I lost my eyesight, my sense of smell really got strong, and it works in my business
because all I do is smell around a house, and it allows me to find issues in the home.
It's pretty wild.
I can walk into a house and be like, 'All right.
We have a mold condition here.'"
"I smell water damage.
I smell it.
You don't smell it?"
"It looks wet.
Oh my God this is wet!"
He confirmed in an Instagram post that he later had a cornea transplant to rectify the
issue and restore his eyesight.
With his backward baseball caps, his love of power tools, and his muscular physique,
"Rock the Block" host Ty Pennington is often considered to be a Jack of all trades who
puts his emotions aside.
But he proved to everyone that he had a heart of gold in May 2023 when he announced the
loss of his close friend and collaborator on Instagram.
Nancy Hadley was an esteemed artist who worked on countless television shows over the course
of her career, including "Kitchen Nightmares" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition."
It was on "Extreme Makeover" that she first met Pennington, and the pair struck up a friendship
that lasted decades.
So, when it was confirmed on Instagram that Hadley died on May 9 after a tough battle
with cancer, it didn't take long for Pennington to share his grief with the world.
Using multiple broken heart emojis, Pennington wrote:
"I don't do well with words.
Trying to express the positive impact a person like Nancy had on someone's life... impossible."
He also spoke of the day they first met.
He confessed,
"I'm so grateful for that day in California, when Nancy showed up as a volunteer, put on
[an] EMHE shirt, and immediately became family.
It's like she knew we needed her, not just her incredible talents but also her spirit."
Pennington also shared numerous throwback photos of him and Nancy in this heartbreaking
post.
Nate Berkus is known as one half of the iconic HGTV duo Nate and Jeremiah.
Berkus and Jeremiah Brent have become well-known figures in the HGTV world, hosting shows like
"The Nate and Jeremiah Home Project," "Nate & Jeremiah By Design," and "Nate and Jeremiah:
Save My House."
And it seems that Berkus needed Brent in his life.
He told People that his mother knew instantly that Brent was the one for him.
He confessed,
"My mother said to me, when Jeremiah and I met, 'The light is back in your eyes.'"
Unfortunately, that wasn't always the case.
In 2004, just one day after Christmas, Berkus and his then-partner were caught in the devastating
tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean.
He had intended to have a relaxing and romantic Sri Lankan vacation with photographer Fernando
Bengoechea, but the natural disaster tore homes and families apart.
In a matter of hours, 230,000 lives had been lost.
Sadly, Berkus' partner went missing amidst the chaos, and he was ultimately presumed
dead.
During an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2005, Berkus spoke for the first time about
this terrifying ordeal.
“I believe I survived the tsunami so that I would be able to understand how Fernando
died."
And in an essay he penned for People a few months later, Berkus wrote that when he returned
home he would spend his days completely incapacitated.
Thankfully, he was eventually able to accept his new normal.
Many HGTV stars are known for being the hosts of their own shows, but Carmeon Hamilton got
her start when she won one.
After coming first in "Design Star: Next Gen," the interior designer was given the chance
to star in her very own show.
She brought "Reno My Rental" to our screens in 2021, and she's since been greenlit to
star in "Turn Your House Around," a brand new show due to drop in 2024.
This new project has probably come as a welcome relief for Hamilton, who went through a traumatic
ordeal a few years ago.
On August 29, 2021, Hamilton confirmed on Instagram that her husband had died in a motorcycle
incident.
She wrote,
"I was alerted by MPD late last night that Marcus succumbed to his injuries after being
hit by an intoxicated driver while on his motorcycle yesterday afternoon,"
She also spoke about her deep sense of loss in this heart wrenching post.
She confessed,
"I'm now missing a major part of myself and that void seems to grow more and more every
second."
Just three months before Marcus died, Hamilton had posted a gushing tribute to her husband.
In this, she confirmed that the couple were gearing up to celebrate their 10th wedding
anniversary.
In fact, they had even been planning to renew their vows, as Hamiton had written:
"I can't wait to marry him all over again in a couple months!!!"
Like many others around the world, "Good Bones" star Mina Starsiak Hawk found her life turned
upside down when the coronavirus pandemic hit.
The pandemic not only affected the filming of season five of her show, but she also revealed
in March 2020 that she was pregnant with her second child.
Traversing pregnancy in the midst of a lockdown couldn't have been easy, but Starsiak Hawk
suffered an even tougher blow when her sister-in-law, Stefanie Hawk, died just over two weeks after
she shared her baby joy with the world.
On March 27, 2020, Starsiak Hawk shared the heartbreaking news on Instagram.
She wrote,
"There's no easy way to share this.
Yesterday we unexpectedly lost my sister, Stefanie Hawk.
She was such a bright light in all of our lives for such a long time.
There is nothing to say that makes it easier or better, especially in this time where our
access to loved ones and friends is so limited."
"Stef is the nicest person in the world [...] we love you to pieces, you're wonderful and you
deserve all this."
In her Instagram post, Starsiak Hawk also spoke about the complications of losing someone
during such a turbulent time.
She confirmed that, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, they would postpone the celebration of Hawk's
life until it was safe to do so.
Starsiak Hawk welcomed her daughter, Charlotte "Charlie" Drew Hawk, in September 2020.
A few months after her arrival, the HGTV star posted a poignant message on Instagram about
her late sister-in-law and her grief.
Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas are the duo that a show like "Bargain Block" needs.
With an impressive fan base behind him, it should come as no surprise to learn that Bynum's
followers were worried when his mom died in June 2022.
After all, the HGTV star had revealed on Instagram just one month before her death that they
had finally started to reconnect after years apart.
During a video released by HGTV during Pride Month in 2021, Bynum spoke for the first time
about the struggles he faced with his family as a gay man.
"It did not go well when I came out, so they have essentially disowned me."
Bynum did not let that stop him, though.
"It got to a point now where I realize it's their loss.
It's not going to hold me back from having a fabulous life and being who I am."
However, it was clear during the latter stages of his mom's life that they were working on
rebuilding their relationship.
In August 2022, Bynum hinted at his feelings of grief when he posted a photo of his most
recent painting on his art-based Instagram page.
Alongside this picture, he wrote:
"'Facing the storm'.
The day I found out my mama had brain cancer I just couldn't do anything that day but paint.
This was the painting."
When Nicole Curtis disappeared from the limelight between 2020 and 2022, many fans wondered
where and why she'd gone.
Upon her return, the "Rehab Addict" star finally explained to People why she'd left.
She revealed,
"I was completely burned out.
There was so much time in those ten years where I didn't get to enjoy it at all.
I was stressed out."
A few months after this interview, she seemed to backtrack on her return to HGTV, when she
wrote a cryptic post on Instagram that read:
"I made a call and said I'm done."
And that's not surprising, considering how much she had going on at that point.
Curtis was pregnant during "Rehab Addict" and hid her pregnancy from fans while filming.
Then when her baby was born, she was involved in a bitter custody battle with her ex, Shane
Maguire.
Their son, Harper, was born in 2015, but it took the former couple three years to come
to an agreement they were both happy with.
This agreement, which was first obtained by The Blast, outlined their physical and legal
rights over their son, as well as more specific rules that revolved around their son's use
of medication and their own use of words when describing each other in front of Harper.
But according to new court documents obtained by Heavy, Nicole is currently fighting changes
to the custody agreement proposed by her ex.
Chip and Joanna Gaines' beautiful Waco home has been the envy of many people, and the
"Fixer Upper" couple hasn't been shy about showing off the many aspects of their house
on social media — especially when it comes to their outside space.
Joanna regularly posts photos of their flourishing garden and their many animals, including their
chickens and goats.
Unfortunately, the Gaines' lives were turned upside down in June 2016 when their property
was the target of a horrific attack.
Between the middle of the night and the early hours of the morning, two of the goats on
their property were fatally shot by trespassers.
The goats were later found by employees, who immediately alerted Chip, Joanna, and the
authorities.
As news of the terrible crime made its way into the press, the Magnolia Homes PR Director
released a statement on behalf of Chip and Joanna to Country Living.
It read,
"We're saddened and shocked by this senseless crime, and at the same time, so grateful for
the outreach and support from our community."
Waco Texas Police Department Sergeant Patrick Swanton also revealed his sadness over the
loss.
He told People,
"These animals were in a small, confined area.
They couldn't get away from whoever did this.
Somebody like that doesn't need to be out on the streets.
We're going to do what we can to put them behind bars."