Why is my IF ELSE statement defaulting backwards?

I am very confused as to why this is happening. When I run this code and leave the txtFirstName field blank, it returns true even though it clearly shouldn't.

@FXML
private void signUp(ActionEvent event) {

    if (txtFirstName.getText() != null) {

        Alert alert = new Alert(Alert.AlertType.CONFIRMATION);
        alert.setTitle("IT WORKS");
        alert.setHeaderText("IT WORKS!");
        alert.setContentText("IT WORKS!!!!!");
        alert.showAndWait();

    } else {

        Alert alert = new Alert(Alert.AlertType.WARNING);
        alert.setTitle("Warning");
        alert.setHeaderText("There was a problem creating your account");
        alert.setContentText("Please fill out every field with the minimum requirements!");
        alert.showAndWait();
    }

}

When I do type a value into the First Name field, I get the else statement when I should be getting the if statement... Am I insane or is this backwards?