HGTV’s Erin Napier Recalls How She ‘Fumbled’ With Ben Napier Before They Started Dating
What To Know
- In honor of “Love Week,” Erin Napier reflected on her first meeting with now-husband Ben Napier.
- She recalled “fumbling” her chance with him before they got together.
- The couple officially met in 2004 and have been married since 2008.
Ben Napier and Erin Napier have been together for more than 20 years, but she had her eye on him for a long time before they actually started dating. The couple met while attending Jones County Junior College in 2004.
Although they were aware of each other before they officially met, the pair’s romance didn’t begin until after Erin interviewed Ben for the college newspaper. In a December 6 Instagram post, the first in her annual “Love Week” series, she reflected on how she nearly lost her chance before they got together.
“The day before I actually knew Ben Napier was December 6, 2004,” Erin recalled. “I had loved him for a long time, but he didn’t know that. Freshman year I watched him eat with the person sitting alone in the student union. I watched him with his arm around pretty girls, always the president of the club or leading the student section’s cheering. He was huge. The way he lived his life, a human party. All 6’6” of him.”
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Erin revealed that she and her now-husband spoke “a few times” before their official meeting, but noted that she “fumbled it by not knowing how to say ‘hello’ without giving myself way, without telling him I’d like to marry him and have his babies.” As she pointed out, “You can’t say things like that to an acquaintance.”
She concluded her post by writing, “So instead I went with cool indifference the few times he tried to be kind to me. On December 6, 2004 I didn’t know that in 7 days he would tell me he loved me, and that he wanted to marry me.”
After their official meeting on December 7, Erin and Ben went on their first date on December 9. They had their first kiss that night and exchanged “I love yous” four days later. Ben proposed in September 2007 and they tied the knot in November 2008.
The Home Town stars are now parents to two children. Their first daughter, Helen, was born in 2018, followed by another baby girl, Mae, in May 2021.
Home Town, Season 10 Premiere, Sunday, January 4, 2026, 8/7c, HGTV
