The Tragedy Of HGTV's Jenny Marrs Is Just Sad

Jenny Marrs may have a shady side, but she has enjoyed many blessings in her life. For starters, "Fixer to Fabulous" basically landed in her lap, with HGTV reaching out to her via an email that she initially thought was spam. But she's able to fully appreciate those blessings because of all the hard times she has faced. The Marrs family is no stranger to tragedy, and many of those losses struck in a single year.

In 2025, Jenny and Dave Marrs experienced a series of heartbreaking losses, including the deaths of two family members, two friends, and a cherished pet. Right before the new year, the HGTV star looked back on the hardships they endured. "2025 was a really, really hard year for our family, yet, as I read through my prayers from 365 days ago, I see God's hand all over my life and the lives of those I love," she captioned a December 31 Instagram post. But this wasn't the only time Jenny faced difficulties.

She has gone through health issues, including infertility and chronic pain. She suffers from back pain as a result of a herniated disk. "Highly painful — I do not recommend," she wrote on Instagram. She also had an allergic reaction to synthetic mint that left lingering symptoms for months. Her lip was swollen for so long that her doctor ordered a biopsy to rule out other issues. "Sometimes we walk through really hard, really painful seasons," she wrote in an Instagram Story (via EntertainmentNow). She has learned that more than once.

Jenny Marrs is the proud mother of five, but the journey was long and difficult. After marrying Dave Marrs in April 2005, she knew she wanted children. However, conceiving proved complicated. "We decided to have kids, and it took a while. We had this kind of struggle, like so many people do," she told Better Homes & Gardens in 2025. Up to that point, Jenny believed she could accomplish anything if she worked hard enough.

It was a humbling experience. "It was a good lesson, to learn that you don't have control of every situation," she added. But being able to see the important lessons from her infertility journey didn't make it any less painful. She has candidly shared the behind-the-scenes moments of those dark times. "My walk through the darkness of infertility was hard. Gut-wrenching and isolating. I often felt so alone in my pain and brokenness," she revealed in an April 2024 Instagram post.

Even amid the heartbreak, her faith never left her. "[God] used that pain to plant a seed for loving the broken," she continued. After multiple treatments failed, she and Dave looked into adoption. But that journey also proved hard, so they opted to give IVF one last shot while they waited for the adoption process to get going. "After another failed match, we decided to make one last ditch effort with fertility treatments and finally became pregnant with twin boys in the fall of 2009," she told Kelly's Korner in 2016.

Jenny and Dave Marrs were overjoyed to have conceived twins. But the pregnancy wasn't smooth sailing. At 29 weeks of pregnancy, Jenny went into preterm labor, putting her and her babies at risk. She had to be airlifted to Little Rock, Arkansas, because her local hospital wasn't equipped to handle premature babies that young. "Upon arrival, we were given every worst-case scenario ... We absorbed their words in silence. We huddled together on the hospital bed and prayed and cried," she captioned a December 2023 Instagram post.

Fortunately, the medical team in Little Rock was able to stall labor, but she had to remain hospitalized for another month. Nathan and Ben were born very prematurely at 33 weeks after a difficult labor. "They had an equally terrifying entrance into the world," she shared. The journey continued to prove challenging, with the boys admitted to the NICU, where they stayed for their first four weeks of life. The separation from her tiny babies was excruciating, both mentally and physically.

Jenny and Dave had to live in the hospital for that month, moving rooms frequently as the staff worked to accommodate other patients. "[We] even [slept] on cots in the cleaning closet for a few nights when there were no rooms available," she revealed. But they made it. And Jenny couldn't be prouder of their boys' fighting spirit. "[They] are now perfectly healthy and strong. The first of our four miracles," she gushed in her interview with Kelly's Korner.

When their boys were 18 months old, Jenny and Dave Marrs felt ready to expand their family. So, they picked the adoption process back up. They had better luck this time. In November 2012, almost immediately after they started their search, they came across the profile of Sylvie, a 10-month-old from the Democratic Republic of Congo. "This was our girl," they recalled saying to each other in a 2019 interview with People. But that joyful moment was the beginning of a years-long journey to get Sylvie home.

Jenny and Dave spent nine months dealing with the endless paperwork to finally attain legal guardianship of Sylvie. In August 2013, they visited her in the DR Congo and estimated she would be home in Arkansas the following month. But the political unrest that struck the country that year intensified, leading to a government decision that prevented adoptees from leaving. Now, the hopeful parents couldn't do anything but wait and pray.

Jenny hung up an ornament featuring a picture of Sylvie on their tree. "Our first Christmas with a daughter across an ocean. We didn't know of the fight in front of us. We didn't know the days of waiting would turn to months and the months would turn to years," she recalled in a December 2025 Instagram post. During this chaotic time, Jenny became pregnant. Her fourth baby, Charlotte, was born in May 2014. Two months later, their third daughter arrived home. "That summer was WILD," she said in her Kelly's Korner interview.

Jenny Marrs experienced back-to-back losses in 2025. In September, Dave Marrs' mother, Donna (seen above), died after being diagnosed with dementia. "She taught me how to live and love well. She taught me how to be the kind of mother-in-law and the kind of grandmother who I can't even begin to imagine this earth without," Jenny captioned an Instagram post to mark her death. The Marrs barely had enough time to mourn when their family was struck by a second loss.

Less than two months later, they also said goodbye to Jenny's grandmother, whom she called Nana. While she was lucky enough to have her grandmother by her side into her mid-40s, that didn't make losing her any easier. "She was a southern belle who remained fiercely strong, feisty and so beautiful until her final breath. She was larger than life, the world seemed to orbit around her, like the sun," Jenny wrote in a heartfelt Instagram post on November 4.

The losses were also hard on their five kids, who were close with both. In all of the social media tributes, Jenny and Dave shared a host of pictures that highlighted the bond their children had with their paternal grandmother and maternal great-grandmother. Those were hard months, but Jenny clung to her faith. She found solace in knowing that her loved ones were well-taken care of. "Rest easy (and thank you for giving Donna that big hug for me)," she concluded her post.

Jenny Marrs experienced another loss in 2025. In July, her beloved dog, Dolly, died at age 18, leaving a big hole in her family. "The pain is too raw right now to properly convey how much Dolly has meant to our family. She was our family," Jenny captioned an Instagram post. Dolly hadn't been with the family since puppyhood. In fact, she had a tragic past herself. Originally from Nebraska, the bird dog lived in a kennel most of the day and was let out only for paid hunts.

Dave Marrs noticed that the dog wasn't in good health during a hunting trip. Her owner suspected cancer, but didn't want to spend money to find out. Wanting to give the dog a chance to live out her life under better conditions, he called Jenny to ask if she would be okay with adding another fur baby to their family. "I urged him not leave there without her," she shared. After a few surgeries, Dolly lived another decade under the care of the Marrs.

This wasn't the first time Jenny mourned a beloved animal. In 2022, her family also said goodbye to Larry, the llama that lived on their farm. "You fought so hard. It was my deep privilege to spend the past week caring for you around the clock," she wrote on Instagram. Jenny reflected on the inevitable heartbreak of loving animals. "Farm life can be both beautiful and brutal ... while I know there is joy to come, I am going to sit in the grief for a bit," she wrote.