Joan Vassos, the leading lady of The Golden Bachelorette, recently revealed a surprising truth: she broke the one rule her kids set for her before she embarked on her reality TV journey. Known for its high-stakes romance and emotionally charged moments, The Bachelorette is not for the faint of heart, and Joan’s children, Nicholas, Erica, Allison, and Luke, were understandably nervous about their mom joining the show.
Joan shared with Katie Couric Media that her kids had some very specific rules for her, hoping to shield her from the drama. “Well, you would hope they were giving me love advice, but they were like, ‘Do not kiss a lot of men on TV and don’t do fantasy suites,’” Joan admitted.
However, as viewers of the show know, Joan didn’t exactly follow their advice. She ended up kissing several of her suitors, much to her children’s dismay. “So now, every episode I watch, my one daughter calls me and tells me how many men I kissed, and she’s appalled every time,” Joan joked, showing just how much her kids are keeping track of her romantic journey.
Despite the cheeky kisses, Joan was firm about one aspect of the show: the Fantasy Suites. She made it clear that she wasn’t comfortable engaging in physical intimacy with multiple men. During her first overnight date with Guy Gansert, Joan told him, “I want to have the time off-camera that we can talk and discuss intimate things, but when it comes to the physical part of that, I’m not going to do that with three different people. So, I’m not going to do it with anybody right now.”
Joan later explained why this boundary was so important to her in an interview with Katie Couric Media: “It was important to me that I did that my way because I definitely did not feel comfortable doing the physical aspect of the fantasy suites. I want a good physical relationship, even at this age, but I certainly was not doing that with three people.” She went on to explain that she felt it was best to remove physicality from the equation altogether, and the men involved were incredibly respectful of her decision.
In fact, Joan found that the decision brought a sense of relief. “Everybody realized that was the right thing to do because if somebody ends up with me, I think knowing that I’d just had a physical relationship with someone else would be hard on the relationship,” she said.
Joan’s approach to her Golden Bachelorette experience might not have followed the traditional mold, but it was authentic to her values. She proved that it’s possible to explore deep emotional connections without compromising on boundaries, and in the process, she earned the respect of her suitors—and her kids.
