Joan Vassos is making history as the first Golden Bachelorette, and she spoke to “Extra’s” Billy Bush ahead of the premiere!
Joan revealed she did have a couple ground rules for herself, including one for the Fantasy Suites.
She shared, “I didn’t want to have a physical relationship with more than one person, so I kind of took that off the table. [We] did Fantasy Suites but it was all about like an emotional connection and learning things about each other off-camera, but I didn’t do the physical thing.”
Joan opted not to have a bed in the room, saying, “We had a sofa and then we went to our own rooms when we were done talking.”
“You don’t have to sleep with the person!” Vassos emphasized.
Joan had no problem kissing men throughout the show though! She confessed, “My kids were so worried about me kissing men on TV, and, like, I pretended that I wasn’t going to do it, but like, you have to kiss. It’s part of the journey.”
She laughed, "They're like, 'You're old, you shouldn't be kissing on TV! It's gross, Mom!'"
"I kissed a lot of them," Joan admitted, quipping, "Oh God, that's gonna be a sound bite, isn't it?"
Joan didn’t find love with Gerry Turner on “The Golden Bachelor,” but she says Gerry remains "a really good friend."
"I think that his journey ended the way it was supposed to," she insisted. "He ended up with Theresa, who I really believe they had a love connection, that they were in love. I'm sorry that it didn't work out, but that's life, honestly."
Joan also spoke about losing her husband John three years ago and how he gave her his blessing to find somebody and be happy.
She shared, “Right before he passed away, we had a conversation that he really wanted to have, I didn't. I was still in denial that he was going to die. He actually died three days later. But he told me to find somebody. He said, ‘You're the greatest wife. We had a wonderful marriage. You have a lot of living left to do, I want you to go find somebody. Do not mourn my loss for the rest of your life. Go out and find somebody.' So, I had his blessing even though at the time, I didn’t want to hear it.”
Joan reflected, "I actually kind of was angry that he would even say that, that he was giving up. But he knew how sick he was. He knew what was going on, and I was just being naive. Now, it was like the greatest gift he could have left me."
Remembering her late husband, Joan said, “He loved me. He made me feel cared for and adored every day of my life and I hope I made him feel the same way, and he would never want me to be unhappy.”
But Joan said she was very conscious not to look for the same person and shared what different qualities she's seeking at this point in her life.
She explained, “When I married John, I was looking for somebody who I wanted to build a life with, that I wanted to have kids with and, you know, we would work hard together and we would build a life. We would create our family. We would create a life together."
She continued, "That's not what I was looking for in this journey. I was looking for somebody to share my life with, so I was looking for a little bit of a different person, maybe someone that has more of a sense of adventure, not that John was not adventurous, but it wasn’t a quality I was looking for.”
She elaborated, “You spend your whole life up to like this age now, I’m 61, like, building a life and getting ready for this next part of your life. You’ve raised your kids, you built your homes, you’ve saved up money and you’re like ready to really enjoy life, and then all of a sudden, like, my future was taken away, my husband passed away. So, I’m still in the mode of like it’s time to really enjoy. I’ve worked hard to be where I am now and I wanted to have a partner that’s ready to have some fun.”
“The Golden Bachelorette” premieres September 18 on ABC.
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