Joan Vassos self-eliminated during the latest episode of The Golden Bachelor, but she has no regrets — just gratitude.
“A huge thank you to everyone expressing their concern for my family,” Joan, 60, wrote via Instagram after the Thursday, October 12, episode aired. “It’s a privilege to be a mom to four amazing kids and a grandmother (they call me Jojo) to two beautiful grandchildren. But once a mom, always a mom and sometimes the timing doesn’t work out with finding love.”
Joan went on to say that “everyone at home is doing great” now. “I hope one day I will get the chance at love again,” she added.
Joan had a great one-on-one date with Gerry Turner during Thursday’s episode, but she ultimately decided to leave early after getting distressing news from home about her daughter, who had recently given birth.
”It wasn’t a normal, everyday delivery at all. Things go wrong. Even if everything went right, you need your mom,” Joan told the cameras. “My family will always be first. Once you become a mom, you’re always a mom, even when your kids are older. Nothing is more important.”
Gerry, 72, said he was “disappointed” after they formed a deep connection, but he understood why Joan decided to go home. “I was thrilled we had a conversation like we did, but there’s a moral compass that we both share,” he told her. “And sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest.”
In a confessional interview, Joan broke down as she reflected on how meeting Gerry had made her feel special again. “My heart maybe got a little fix from Gerry. He’s helped with the journey, because as you get older you become more invisible,” she explained. “People don’t see you anymore. You’re not as significant as when you’re young.”
While Joan and Gerry’s love story didn’t work out, Joan made lasting connections with the other contestants on the show. “I’m so lucky to have been surrounded by such sweet and supportive women,” she wrote via Instagram on Thursday, sharing a video of the moment she told them she planned to leave. “Missing these women.”
Last month, Gerry exclusively told Us Weekly that he wanted to make sure all the women felt “good about themselves” while on the show. “I really wanted to be supportive of all the women,” he said in September, hinting that the fantasy suite dates were more about emotional connections than physical ones. “It did turn out to be exactly that,” he said. “I was happy how it turned out. Being able to have a conversation off camera was critically important.”
The Golden Bachelor airs on ABC Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.
