Exclusive quotes, plus a sneak peek at her season premiere.
After months of waiting, the news is out: The contestants for The Golden Bachelorette have been revealed, and leading lady Joan Vassos will have an exciting group of men to choose from. Back in May, ABC revealed that Vassos was chosen to be America’s first Golden Bachelorette. The 61-year-old school administrator from Maryland appeared on The Golden Bachelor last year. She made waves when she decided to self-eliminate despite her strong connection with Gerry Turner because her daughter had recently given birth and needed her help.
Vassos’ departure from the show was simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming — and now, she has another shot at a picture-perfect happy ending. You’ll be able to watch her love story unfold on ABC starting Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. Eastern.
Although Vassos’ journey doesn’t kick off for a few more weeks, we have some tidbits to tide you over until the season begins. As the first season of Golden Bachelor came to a close this past fall, Vassos offered some key insights to Katie Couric Media about her perspective on dating, her relationship with her first husband, and how The Golden Bachelor changed her life. If you’re wondering what to expect during her season, these quotes might shed some light.
Joan Vassos on dating later in life:
“I learned two important things about dating at this age,” Vassos told us. “First, we are expected to be strong and in control as the matriarchs of our families, and that doesn’t work in the dating world. You have to allow that part of you that’s been cooped up for so long to come out — be vulnerable and open to letting someone in that makes you feel like you’re the one who’s cared for.”
She continued, “Second, you don’t have to navigate the somewhat uncomfortable dating at this stage of life alone. Find your tribe: those women who have found themselves single in their 60s and 70s. None of us thought we’d be in this place, and it’s lonely in this world of couples. It’s way more fun when you go on this journey with new friends. I learned that at the Bachelor mansion, and I’ll never go it alone again!”
On her first marriage:
“I had a wonderful life with my late husband, and I loved being married,” she told us. “I wanted to experience that feeling again but finding a match later in life seemed impossible to do organically. We live in a world of couples and the chance of meeting someone while going about your normal day is very unlikely…believe me, I tried.”
She added, “My mantra is that if you want something, you need to make an effort to affect that outcome, so I pushed myself to date. And I did it in a big way by going on The Golden Bachelor. Oddly, I felt that it would be easier for me to do it with these other women as support and I didn’t think of them as my competition. I thought of them as my friends, which gave me the confidence I needed to date again.”
On her type:
When Vassos was a contestant on The Golden Bachelor, her bio said, “She’s happiest when she’s at the beach with her family and is looking for a family man with whom to blend her life.” More recently, she’s opened up about the type of man she’s looking for: She told ExtraTV she likes a guy who’s “tall, dark, and handsome” because “that’s what I was married to.” As far as the non-physical stuff goes, she said she wants someone who’s “energetic, kind, generous. Loves kids, loves their family like I love my family. I know that’s a tall order but that’s what I’m looking for.”
The advice Joan Vassos got from Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner:
Although their relationship didn’t work out, the former Golden Bachelor and the incoming Golden Bachelorette are still very much on good terms — so much so that Turner recently gave Vassos some words of advice before she embarks on her journey. Vassos told ET that Turner was very “open and vulnerable” during his season and explained, “He said that’s what you need to be from day one because you don’t have a lot of time.”
“This is a quick journey. You can’t leave anything on the table. I feel like day one, starting conversation one, everything you do here is important,” she said.
On life after The Golden Bachelor (and before Golden Bachelorette):
“I’ve had many, many people reach out asking to meet — or to marry them, which is hilarious — and quite a few women who have widowed fathers that they’d like to set me up with. I’m being very cautious, though, because I feel vulnerable, both safety-wise and emotionally,” she told us. “To be honest, I still don’t have it figured out, but what I do know is that I went on The Golden Bachelor looking for love and I left with an even more intense feeling of needing it. I felt that glimpse of hope that I hadn’t felt since my husband’s passing. But I’m open to any dating advice!”
Vassos also told ET that her comments on the show about aging struck a nerve with viewers. “I got so many messages about when I had said that I felt invisible as you get older…I didn’t think anybody in the world felt that way. I thought it was just me.”
What Vassos wants for her season of The Golden Bachelorette
The leading lady expressed some nerves about being the first Golden Bachelorette. She told ET that she thinks of Trista Sutter, the first Bachelorette, and how she met her husband Ryan on the show. “I don’t know if I’m ever gonna be revered like [Trista],” she admitted. “Her love story was perfect. She has a lovely family, she has a beautiful husband, she has adorable kids. She had the perfect end to this journey, so I hope I have an epic end like she did. It’s a lot of pressure.”
But she said that being the Golden Bachelorette is not just about her finding love: “I think it’s really more about the bigger story, that this is people our age dating. The hope is that by watching someone doing it successfully and having fun, it still being dignified and that you can be a little selfish and that you deserve love,” she said.
“I am just an example. I am just one of the many people that should be doing this and feel like you are entitled to have love in your life.”
Despite her trepidations, Vassos is eager to embark on this chapter and share it with the viewers. In a new promo for The Golden Bachelorette, we see our leading lady standing outside the Bachelor mansion, about to greet her contestants.
“I’m not scared anymore,” she says. “I’m ready for the journey to begin.”
