‘Golden Bachelorette’ Star Joan Vassos Isn’t in a Rush to Marry Fiance Chock Chapple

A year ago, Joan Vassos made Bachelor Nation history as the first Golden Bachelorette, saying yes when Chock Chapple dropped to one knee and proposed with a custom Neil Lane Couture 4-carat diamond ring on the show’s finale. But the school administrator, a Pancreatic Cancer Action Network ambassador, and the insurance exec, both 62, didn’t exactly rush down the aisle, much to fans’ — and likely ABC’s — dismay. “I’m so flattered that people watch the show and are invested in us,” Joan recently told Daily Mail. “It’s actually flattering.”

The widowed mom of four adult children explained that her priority has been her family. (She famously quit Gerry Turner’s season of The Golden Bachelor to support her daughter after a difficult childbirth.) “I just got one child married last summer, and then I have another one to get married this summer,” she said, adding that after her son ties the knot, “Then I’ll probably start thinking about our wedding.”

For now, the lovebirds split their time between her home in Maryland and the divorced dad of two’s place in Kansas. “We travel and we just get to do all the fun things,” she explained, adding that they plan to spend plenty of time together over the holidays. “Marriage is meaningful. I believe in it. I just don’t think we need to do it in any rush,” she noted. “We just do it kind of when it’s comfortable for us.”

Wedding or no, she still feels like a blushing bride. “I… got the chance to find love for the second time in my life,” she said, marveling, “I got to find it.”