‘I’ll never leave my family’: Golden Bachelorette Joan Vassos’ reluctance to move raises some red flags before filming begins

Golden Bachelor star Joan Vassos has been given a second shot at finding her perfect match as the leading lady of the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelorette, and unlike Gerry Turner — whose relationship with Theresa Nist ended in divorce after their televised Golden Wedding earlier this year — she knows exactly what she is looking for.

This time around, Joan is looking for a love like Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds or Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell — with a man like Kevin Costner or Rob Lowe — so hopefully some of her suitors can deliver. In addition to this, the Maryland native wants a man who is an active listener, ultimately adding another quality to the checklist and inching her closer and closer to finding her dream man. Nonetheless, our fingers are crossed that at least one individual on the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelorette meets this criteria!

While Joan knows exactly what she is looking for as the Golden Bachelorette, she shared something in a recent interview with CNN that raised some red flags for fans of the Bachelor franchise, leaving us to wonder whether or not she will find her forever partner after all. Keep scrolling for all of the nitty gritty deets…

As viewers know by now, Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner and his final rose recipient, Theresa Nist, got engaged during the finale of the beloved competition series, prior to tying the knot in a televised Golden Wedding just a few months later. The pair shocked individuals all across America shortly afterwards when they decided to get a divorce, admitting in numerous interviews that distance was the main factor — not wanting to leave their families, respectively — despite making plans to move to Charleston, South Carolina together.

After seeing what happened with Gerry and Theresa, Joan admitted to CNN that she has no plans to leave her family or move to be with a man, so that is something that she plans to tell her group of eligible bachelors upfront. Hopefully some of her men are local to Maryland…

She reminisced on setting this expectation with Gerry during her short-lived stint on The Golden Bachelor:

“That was actually the first question that Gerry asked me. We sat down for the first time together and he said, ‘You live in Maryland, I live in Indiana. How do you see something like this working?’ My answer to him was — and it still is my answer — I think you almost have to live a dual life. I’ll never leave my family. They are the most important people in the world to me, obviously.”

The 61-year-old continued:

“I would expect that to be the same for the person that I end up with because family is so important to me. That would have to be a key part of their personality. You have to be willing to travel and be with that person and maybe spend a couple of months or a couple of weeks at a time… Maybe eventually, you figure out a destination that would work for you and your families or have another house where everybody gets together.”

If she is not open to the idea of relocating, why was Joan chosen as the inaugural Golden Bachelorette?
Is she willing to waver on the idea of relocating?
Will she ever find her perfect match?

We just have soooo many questions…

Nonetheless, we seriously cannot wait to watch everything unfold when The Golden Bachelorette hits our television screens this fall, and our fingers are crossed that Joan finds her forever person. It might be hard, but it’s definitely not impossible with her 10 out of 10 personality!