Ben Napier opened up about how his family’s financial struggles during his childhood helped shape him as a person.
“Growing up in my house, when I was a little kid, my parents lost everything financially,” Ben shared in a joint interview with his wife, Erin Napier, on Sadie Robertson Huff‘s WHOA That’s Good Podcast. “They had this old Datsun car because the bank said, ‘That car has no value.’ And so, they let my dad keep it. And we were going on the road.”
Ben noted that one of his “earliest memories” is of riding in the car when “the hood flew up and busted the windshield.” He added, “My dad’s solution was he jerked the hood off the car and threw it in the ditch and kept going.”
Bent went on to share that his father was a “big farmer” who lost money due to a “weird bank loan situation.” He explained, “[It was] actually an illegal loan. They can’t do it anymore. Anyway, he lost everything, and he rebuilt it all, and then he lost it all again. And so, my perspective on heartache and loss was from watching my parents lose and rebuild and start over, and then have a surprise baby late in life when they really, as far as the world was concerned, they did not need that child.”
Now a father himself, Ben said his motto is to “do the best you can and don’t worry about it, because at the end of the day, everything’s going to be okay.” He continued, “It’s hard. It will be very hard. You will have very hard days. And Erin, that is probably her greatest fear, is not being prepared and not like planning.”
Erin agreed, stating that fears “not seeing it coming, whatever it is.”
Ben and Erin wed in 2008 and went on to welcome their daughters, Helen and Mae, in 2018 and 2021, respectively. The couple started their family while also starring on their HGTV home renovation series, Home Town, which debuted in 2016.
The pair have appeared on several HGTV series over the years, including the spinoffs Home Town Kickstart and Home Town Takeover. Ben and Erin’s latest series, Hometown: Inn This Together, is set to premiere on HGTV next year.
Ben shared more about his childhood in a June interview with Country Living, revealing the “second time” his dad “lost everything was when he became a preacher.” According to Ben, his father gave up his career as a successful truck driver to follow his “higher calling.”
“It was impactful for me because, there he was, giving everything up. We sold our farm. We had a house and 10 acres and a barn. Sold his truck, sold his trailers, went back to school and got a degree and then got his master’s from Duke University,” Ben told the outlet. “I’ve been down in my life at times where if I didn’t make it to the free lunch that I was going to get at the cafeteria, then I was not going to eat that day in college. There were a lot of Saturdays that I missed out on a meal because I slept in. But I survived it and I’m here.”
His resilience is something Ben said he passes down to his own kids. “I hope that from me our daughters inherit that ability to be present in what is happening, because, you know, what happened yesterday, it’s over. Learn from it,” Ben said. “And who knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. You can’t control it. But in my experience, everything’s going to be okay.”