Whoever said “life begins at 60” must have had someone like Joan Vassos in mind! At 61, the star of The Golden Bachelorette is ready to dive into an exciting new chapter in her quest for love. After facing a heart-wrenching loss when her husband of 32 years passed away from cancer in 2021, she is ready to leap back into the chapter of love.
But this isn’t her first rodeo on reality TV! Although she felt a spark with the original Golden Bachelor, Gerry Turner, she made the tough choice to step away from last year’s season when she learned her daughter was struggling with postpartum depression.
Without batting an eyelash, she chose family over potential romance. On that note, let’s take a closer look at her past marriage.
The Golden Bachelorette’s Joan Vassos: A Look at Her Past Marriage
This is life, where you often find yourself threading a new needle where the old one broke. Just ask Joan Vassos, who years before stepping onto the stage of The Golden Bachelor was married to John Nicholas Vassos for a remarkable thirty-two years.
Born in 1961 in Washington, DC, Nicholas Vassos was a proud Salisbury University alum who built a career running BCE Corporation and CapX Solutions (via John’s obituary). Sadly, his journey took a disheartening turn when he passed away in 2021, “after a hard-fought two-year battle with pancreatic cancer”.
Reflecting on her next chapter, Joan Vassos shared during a CNN interview:
I did not want to spend my life alone, so I knew that I had to take action, but my heart wasn’t there at all. I was saying to my friend, ‘How in the world do you date now? Look around this restaurant. Everybody here is a couple. Everybody my age is married’.
That very evening, after the dinner blues, she flipped on the TV and stumbled upon a casting call for The Golden Bachelor:
I was like, ‘The universe is talking to me’.
We learned from the NY Times that she met her late husband at a bar in Ocean City, Maryland, just before her junior year at the University of Maryland. She described herself as more of a “wallflower,” while he was larger-than-life—(In this case, it’s clear that opposites really do attract!) They tied the knot in 1988 when she was just 25.
She joined the inaugural season alongside Gerry Turner, but left during week three due to a family emergency. Speaking of Turner, he eventually got engaged to finalist Theresa Nist and even had a televised wedding. But, as they say in reality TV, “stay tuned”—they split just a few months later.
Joan Vassos Felt Conflicted About Dating Again After Losing Her Husband
For Joan Vassos, The Golden Bachelorette has been more than just a chance at romance—it’s served as a form of grief therapy. After losing her husband of 32 years, she found herself managing her grief during a pandemic that made seeking help feel nearly impossible. She shared with PEOPLE:
My husband passed away during COVID, and I really didn’t embrace the whole mourning thing. I was in charge of being strong. I just buckled down and ignored it.
Initially, she considered group therapy, but with the world in lockdown, options were scarce. However, once she started forming connections on The Golden Bachelorette, she realized she had to “face” it.
Talking to PEOPLE, she candidly confessed that she felt guilty for having feelings for someone else:
I almost felt like I was cheating on John, which is crazy because he’s passed away.
But her John Nicholas Vassos had always been her biggest cheerleader. Before he passed, he told her:
I want you to find somebody. You are the greatest wife in the world. I don’t want you to be alone. I want you to find somebody.
Now, she pays homage to her late husband by sharing stories that keep his memory alive:
Putting his name on a bench or planting a tree, none of these things are good enough. So I thought, you know what I think he would like the most? Is that you don’t forget him.
Ultimately, being on The Golden Bachelorette has been a transformative experience for her. So here’s to Joan Vassos—proving that even in the depths of sorrow, new beginnings can blossom, laughter can emerge, and love can find a way!
The Golden Bachelorette is available to watch on Hulu. While The Golden Bachelor can be rented on Apple TV.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
