When Joan Vassos appeared on The Golden Bachelor last year, attempting to win the heart of Gerry Turner before she left the show early because of a family emergency, she said something that resonated deeply with many viewers: “As you get older you become more invisible. People don’t see you anymore. You’re not as significant as when you’re young.
” Now that Vassos, 61, is starring in the inaugural season of ABC’s The Golden Bachelorette , she’s learning that not only did that sentiment strike a chord with female viewers of a certain age, but her words also impacted some of the men who showed up to the Bachelor Mansion this season. During a one-on-one conversation with Jonathan, a 61-year-old shipping consultant from Iowa, he let Vassos know he was touched by her vulnerability. He, too, relates to feeling invisible at his age.
“It was so surprising when he said it, because he’s a tall, good looking, handsome man,” Vassos tells Rolling Stone . “He looks so young, he looks like he’s in his forties. It shocked me to hear that he felt that way.
I thought that I was the only person feeling this way and I just kind of blurted it out in the limo on my way out of the mansion. So many people DMed me and messaged me and said, ‘You verbalized the way I’ve been feeling forever.’ And when Jonathan said it, it was just another person that reinforced that.
” The Golden Bachelorette premiered on Wednesday night, following in the footsteps of The Golden Bachelor ,.