The Golden Bachelorette lead has finally been announced.
Joan Vassos will be looking for love this fall and franchise fans are really excited about it.
Now, we’re getting to learn more about the 61-year-old Maryland native as she gets ready to film her season.
And it looks like she’s doing her best to avoid the issue that led to The Golden Bachelor divorce.
As most viewers already know, Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist are getting divorced just three months after their televised wedding.
The excuse they gave for their marriage falling apart is that they cannot agree on where to live.
Now, Joan has weighed in not only on their divorce but also on whether she will move away from her family if she finds the man of her dreams on The Golden Bachelorette.
Joan Vassos knows exactly what she wants
Joan knows how she’ll navigate a long-distance relationship if she should fall for a man who doesn’t live in Maryland like she does. And it’s worth noting that she’s not moving.
During her recent interview with CNN following The Golden Bachelorette announcement, Joan shared that she and Gerry did discuss the distance and whether she would be willing to move.
“That was actually the first question that Gerry asked me. We sat down for the first time together and he said, ‘You live in Maryland, I live in Indiana. How do you see something like this working?’ My answer to him was — and it still is my answer — I think you almost have to live a dual life. I’ll never leave my family. They are the most important people in the world to me, obviously.”
This makes us question Gerry and Theresa’s inability to decide where to live now that we know it was at the forefront of his mind.
Joan will certainly be having those discussions with her Golden Bachelorette suitors too.
She told CNN, “I would expect that to be the same for the person that I end up with because family is so important to me. That would have to be a key part of their personality.”
Joan continued, “You have to be willing to… travel and be with that person and maybe spend a couple of months or a couple of weeks at a time… and then maybe eventually, you figure out a destination that would work for you and your families or have another house where everybody gets together.”
Joan Vassos on Gerry and Theresa’s divorce
Joan is aware that Gerry and Theresa are headed for divorce but that won’t affect her search for love on The Golden Bachelorette.
In fact, she’s not too worried about their split at all.
In that same CNN interview, Joan weighed on on The Golden Bachelor divorce, telling viewers pointedly that it’s “not the end of the world.”
She congratulated them on finding love with each other but then went on to congratulate them again for realizing (post-wedding) that it just wasn’t going to work out and calling it quits.
The Golden Bachelor will air on Wednesays this fall on ABC.