Joan Vassos had all the right reasons to exit The Golden Bachelor.
Though a front-runner in Gerry Turner's heart, the 60-year-old eliminated herself from the ABC show to be with her daughter who had just given birth.
"A huge thank you to everyone expressing their concern for my family," Joan wrote on her Instagram Stories Oct. 12 after the 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."
And she made it clear she isn't giving up on her journey to find love.
"Everyone at home is doing great," the private school administrator continued, "and I hope one day I will get the chance at love again."
Now, she'll be rooting on her fellow contestants from home.
"I'm so lucky to have been surrounded by such sweet and supportive women," Joan added in another post. "Missing these women!"
Joan's exit came after she won a one-on-one dinner with Gerry for a poem she wrote during a group date talent show.
"I had a really hard time leaving home," she shared with the 72-year-old during their date, where they also connected over the deaths of their spouses. "I have a lot of responsibilities back at home. I have a daughter who just had a baby 15 days ago—a C-section, not an easy delivery, not an easy baby. But for the first time in my life, I thought, 'I am really going to do something for myself, because I think I'm ready and this is an opportunity that I just can't let go.'"
Though Gerry gave Joan his rose, she knew she had to return home after receiving a text from her daughter.
"There's a moral compass that we both share," the retired restaurateur, who expressed his disappointment over her departure, told her, "and sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest."
In the end, it was the least dramatic exit but perhaps one of the most heartbreaking for viewers.
"My heart maybe got a little fix from Gerry," she said on the car ride home. "He's helped with the journey. Because as you get older, you become more invisible. People don't see you anymore. Like, you're not as significant as when you're young."
To see all the women on Gerry's season, keep reading.
Age: 61
Occupation: Retired Nutritionist
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Age: 60
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Age: 60
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Age: 67
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Age: 64
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