Bachelor Nation fans are getting to know Jonathan Rone as he looks for love with Joan Vassos on Season 1 of “The Golden Bachelorette.”
While we’re waiting to see how his journey unfolds, Jonathan recently opened up about his past relationships and dating life before going on the show.
The Bachelor Nation star joined podcast hosts Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt on “Bachelor Happy Hour” so they could get to know him a little better.
Joe and Serena dived right in and asked Jonathan how his dating life was before going on “The Golden Bachelorette,” to which he replied that it was “hit or miss.”
“Living in Oakland, Iowa, in a town of about 1,500 people, there’s no one in my dating pool,” Jonathan said, “so I had to reach out to social media to see if I could connect with someone.”
He opened up about his last relationship, saying, “There’s always the distance factor with me being in a small town and so my last relationship lasted about a year and I met a girl online. She was from Norway and I was pretty impulsive and I ended up flying over to Norway to meet her. And she flew to the States and met me here a couple times and so it was a good relationship, but it was difficult because that’s quite a distance. It’s like over 4,000 miles away and a lot of things to consider.”
He continued, “It became more of a fantasy that I was involved in and it took me out of my reality, it took me out of my present day, my responsibilities of doing things for my kids, for my job, things like that. And so the dating life has been kind of hit or miss. There’s always been a distance issue with me, but you know I’ve never given up on it, though.”
Joe then asked how Jonathan’s relationship is now with his ex-wife, who Jonathan shared on the show surprised him one day by filing for divorce.
“I would have to say it’s amicable… I mean there’s, unfortunately… there’s really not a friendship because of the way things went down according to me and my book,” he admitted.
He went on, saying, “My certain boundaries, my values. From the moment we decided to get married and have children, there were some things there that meant a lot to me. And in a sense, it wasn’t what she wanted anymore.”
Jonathan got candid about where he hopes their relationship could be one day and where it’s at currently.
“I wish there was a friendship, but I mean there’s some things there that, I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a Scorpio, that once you cross a line with me, once you have bad blood, it’s kind of no going back,” he shared, “unless you can really have a conversation and both people can be authentic and genuine about it with a lot of humility and humbleness. I think I would still be open to that. But right now I think it’s just amicable. We’re doing things for the kids.”
Jonathan then shared how he believes in love at first sight and why meeting Joan for the first time was so special for him.
He said, “That was my whole thing with a blindfold. I believe in love at first sight, so that kind of moment, that’s what I was envisioning. If Joan and my eyes met for the first time and we had that connection, that’s what I was looking for because that’s a very powerful first moment between two people.”
Listen to the full interview in the “Bachelor Happy Hour” episode below!
