Nearly a year after Bachelor Nation fell in love with school administrator on ( and over her daughterâs medical emergency), our favorite Golden Girl is making her return to the ever-iconic for a âsecond, second chanceâ at finding love. Cue: Joan helming the first-ever season of which premiered on Wednesday. While fans of the show followed the 61-year-oldâs latest journey kick off on screen, screen, Joan had her sights elsewhere this week: Disneyâs on Broadway! Joan made her Broadway debut as the Fortune Teller in while celebrating her new Bachelor Leading Lady status, and she let come hang out with her during her theater fitting and rehearsal.
âIâm so lucky that I get to do this when there are people all over the world whose dream this is, and I get to be here one night because I was on this reality TV show,â Joan told âIâm also incredibly excited and a little nervous! I donât usually get very nervous, but this is maybe one of the scariest things Iâve ever done.â As our Golden Bachelorette was fitted and prepped, she gave a full play-by-play of what filming limo entrances for the ABC series was really like and dished on the texts she or may not have sent executive producers about wanting to cast âs dad. (Admit it: you would have, too! Ì_(ă)_/ Ì ) Read on for the convo.
The Golden Bachelorette I was actually on the phone [with ABC] about season stuff, and they said, âWe have a surprise for you.â And when they finally told me, I was like, âThis is the opportunity of a lifetime!â People hope for this their entire life. I almost feel bad that I get to do it because there are so many people who are in theater and dream about being on Broadway, and I just get to be here.
Itâs a dream come true and probably the coolest offer Iâve ever had, including being the Golden Bachelorette. I only have a little speaking part, but the show sent me my lines right away and I literally practiced them every day for probably a month and a half because Iâm afraid! Iâve never been on a live stage like this. Iâve done reality TV so Iâve gotten used to that, but ? Youâre not winging it, and so you have to do it right.
Iâve been practicing and practicing and practicing, and I finally get a rehearsal on the day of the show. Gosh, I hope I donât mess it up. Honestly, I didnât know anyone whoâs done this before, but the person who happens to be doing my makeup this week started out as a theater person.
I was like, âIâm going to tell you my lines. Tell me how you would deliver them because I have no idea.â I also asked her things like whether I should speak a certain way or place emphasis on certain words, so I ran through my lines for her and she said, âI think thatâs fineâ because theyâre simple.
Iâm definitely overthinking it, but I really want to make sure Iâm doing it right. I want to ask Jasmine and Aladdin how the person who actually does this for a living does it. I also want to stream so I can watch how the Fortune Teller really says the lines to get it right.
I think what makes this role really goodâand likely why I was picked for itâis that Jasmine and Aladdin come up to me, the Fortune Teller, because they want to know about love. So thereâs a great connection to the show. After all, that's also all about love.
I think that stepping out of your comfort zone and being scared is healthy. So I immediately said âyesâ to this and then thought, âwhat have I done?â Because itâs scary! But Iâve made it my policy in the last maybe year and a half to step out of my comfort zone because otherwise you just get stuck at a place in lifeâespecially when you get to be my age. Itâs easy to simply exist and be happy with your world, but thereâs a chance you can make it better.
And you have to step out of your comfort zone to do that. So the biggest lesson I took from and applied to this is to even though itâs scary. Back when I was on day one, I was terrified.
You come out of the limo and you donât know what to expect! Day one as the Golden Bachelorette, on the other hand, was completely comfortable. But I had all this angst for the guys because I knew they were in the limo this time and how scary it was for me. That night, I felt a lot of emotions.
I was excited about meeting them, but I was also a little bit skeptical that maybe a lot of men didnât apply to this becauseâif I think about older men in generalâtheyâre generally not doing anything thatâs scary. Theyâre going out with their friends or watching sports on TV. Theyâre eating the food that theyâve liked all their life, and they donât do anything different.
So I was afraid that maybe ABC wouldnât get a lot of applicants for this and I wouldnât connect with somebody. Luckily, it all worked out and I had many connections that night, which felt very good and like such a relief. But then I became worried for the men and my focus turned to making sure they felt comfortable while also dealing with feeling a little overwhelmed.
I had to remember 24 names and what everyone said to me because at the end of the night, there was a rose ceremony and you have to really be conscious of what youâre doing. These are important decisions. you paused and spoke with host Jesse Palmer about the wave of emotions you felt.
Can you speak to that moment and why you felt like you needed to take a beat? In my opinion, it was a point when you showed great empathy and grace. Night one is hard because people give a lot up to be on the show. They leave their families, they leave their homes, they leave their dogs and their friends.
They leave their comfort zone. And to only be able to do the show for one dayâI didnât want them to think that they had lost in some way, or that I didnât choose them for a reason. I wanted them to know they had all kind of already won.
That they made it this far and they did something really brave by coming out into the world and showing people (and themselves) they were available and ready to meet somebody. Itâs something adventurous and brave and speaks to how someone at our age can still be ready to live life. I wanted more roses in the long run, honestly.
I wanted them all to stay, but sadly that couldnât happen. And so I had to go and reset a little bit. Talking to Jesse was helpful because he has been the Bachelor at one point, so he truly gets how youâre feeling.
After resetting and taking a deep breath, I went back in and even made a little bit of another speech because, once again, I wanted to reiterate how important and brave all these men were. But I only had four roses left at that point, and I remember looking out at these men and seeing their hopeful faces. It was really, really hard.
Itâs way harder than you think. Iâd imagined it was going to be hard because Iâve been on the other side, but even with that experience, it was still so much harder than I imagined. Leading up to that, I thought I see him because itâd been teased a lot.
Itâs actually really funny, and youâre the first person Iâm telling this to, but that night when I was watching was introducing him to her family and to her dad, I texted one of the executive producers and said, âIf Iâm the Golden Bachelorette, I need Mark on my season.â I swear to God I did that. I could show you the text.
Then during Joey and Kelseyâs finale, Mark was in the audience. And when Jesse asked, âHey, are we going to see you next season?â they panned the camera to him and he laughed and didnât give a yes or a no. So in my mind, I thought maybe he would be there.
But then that first night, I kept waiting for limos and waiting for limos. They kept coming and coming and coming, and I honestly thought he might not show, until finally Kelsey emerged and I knew it was happening. I was like, .
Isnât it crazy? They loved each other. Yeah, itâs like you feel terrible sending one home because theyâre best friends. I can imagine! Interestingly enough, I donât get to see whatâs happening in the mansion other than when Iâm there.
So Iâve only now seen the stuff that happened on night one, and I love how they cheer each guy on when they come in. But the thing thatâs emblematic of the whole season is when we show the video of everyoneâs daughters and sons and families, and some of them are tearing up and feeling very nostalgic because they just left their loved ones. As I said, itâs hard being away from them.
And they know this could potentially be a pretty long journey, but itâs only night one. Yet theyâre already feeling it, and theyâre helping each other and patting each other on the back. They were really understanding, and that was probably the moment when they bonded for life and became forever friends.
Itâs almost like they already shed a tear in front of everybody, so now everythingâs free. Thatâs a great question because thatâs exactly what happened. I went on the show thinking I was ready, but I never had strong feelings for another man after John passed away.
I never really connected with anybody even though I did date a little bit. So when I started making strong connections with a few of the men, it all of a sudden hit me. And I had no idea; I didnât expect this.
People had been asking all throughout the journey, âAre you 100 percent ready? Are you 100 percent?â And I kept saying, âYes, yes.â But then all of a sudden, I was like, âNo, Iâm not 100 percent ready. Now Iâm not sure if Iâm ready at all.
â However, as you said, youâre encouraged to face these things. You have to, because you have to make quick decisions. This is a fast journey, so you have to get through your emotions quickly.
Luckily, the franchise does a good job of supporting you. They have psychiatrists available, and theyâre on set and you can access them anytime you want: before the show ever airs, before youâre even on the show, and even afterward. Theyâre always available to you.
So I definitely thought to myself, . I got really, really good advice from the psychiatrists. They actually both came and met with me that day and I said, âIâm having a hard time letting go of John.
And I feel like people keep saying, âAre you ready?â And I canât let go of John.â And they told me, âYou donât need to let go of John. Picture it like this: You have a balloon in both hands, and John is one balloon while this other potential person is in the other hand.
You donât have to let go of this balloon to hold onto this one. John can always be in your heart and in your memories. Heâs part of you and you donât have to let it go.
â And that was all I needed. I just had to get this little bit of advice on how to navigate through that, because I didnât know how to do it. I wouldâve never known that had I not spoken to them, and I probably still wouldâve struggled with that to this day.
And I think it applies to so many others who watch the franchise , too. Itâs such a reassuring thing to hear. Oh my gosh, there are tons! I mean, I think the whole Jenner family tunes in, which is the coolest thing.
Theyâre probably the biggest, most iconic family of women that you would be amazed actually loves to watch this stuff. I also have celebrity crushes, but I doubt that theyâre watching. I wish they would, though! To be honest though, I love to know that people Iâve watched on television my whole life and really respectânews reporters like Robin Roberts and the peopleâstill enjoy watching people fall in love and have a little bit of a mushy side.
A little bit of both. I do feel like itâs a big responsibility, and I look back at Trista [Sutter (neeÌ Rehn)], who was the original Bachelorette and handled her journey with such grace, all the while being so much younger than me. And her outcome was perfect.
She has this lovely husband and children, and they lived happily ever after. So I felt as though she was the person I wanted to emulate, and I even spoke to her about her experience. There was also this continuous feeling I had of not wanting the story to solely be me.
Iâm one small person in this massive group of millions of people in the second half of life whoâve found themselves single. And there are a lot of us who didnât want to be there, some who are very comfortable with it, and some who have simply lost all hope of finding someone. Itâs just too hard.
The pool of people is small and it requires a lot of effort, some people think itâs not dignified, and some people think theyâre being selfish and shouldnât think that they deserve a second chance at love. So there are all of these emotions going around that I really felt I had the opportunity to change a bit. Itâs a way bigger responsibility than finding love for myself.
I want people like me to not give up because you only get one chance at life, and you donât want to have any regrets in the end. You need to put yourself out there and do it in a big way. I wish I knew it would all be okay before I ever started that first night because I was so terrified that there werenât going to be a lot of applicants.
I was also thinking, After all, you really donât know how many people are actually interested in being on this journey. Itâs a lot. I thought maybe men are more vulnerable and fragile as they get older, so they might not want to put themselves out there in this way.
I was nervous about potentially ending up with nobody. You also put yourself out there and expose yourself to many, many people. And we all understand how social media is: you open yourself up to criticism.
But then after those limo entrances, I was like,.
