In case ya didn't know, Gerry Turner is totally here for his ex, Joan Vassos, being the first-ever Golden Bachelorette. The inaugural Golden Bachelor sent well wishes to Joan on Instagram a few months before The Golden Bachelorette's season premiere, writing, "Dear Joan, congratulations on being named the first ever Golden Bachelorette. You will be phenomenal as the new representative of a generation." He ended his message with a solid piece of advice: "From one golden to another, relax, breathe and enjoy. Gerry."

FYI, Joan was introduced to Bachelor Nation as one of Gerry's contestants but self-eliminated during the third week of the competition when her daughter faced a medical emergency.

ABC initially announced the new Golden Bachelorette on Instagram, and Joan also penned a sweet post reacting to her historical gig.

"The first Golden Bachelorette… I truly can’t believe it! I’m positively overwhelmed by the love and support you are all sending my way. Thank you @abc for picking me and @bachelornation for rooting for me!" she wrote on May 15. "As I embark on this journey, I hope to make you all proud, follow my heart, and have a lot of fun along the way. I’m honored to represent all of the golden ladies out there, turns out we aren’t invisible after all. ✨🌹"

A reminder that Gerry found love with Theresa Nist on The Golden Bachelor, and after a televised wedding and three months of marriage, they ended their relationship in April 2024. "Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations," Gerry announced on Good Morning America alongside Theresa. "We’ve looked closely at our situation, our living situation, so forth and—and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to—dissolve our marriage."

During an interview with CNN, Joan weighed in on the end of Gerry and Theresa's marriage, saying, "I was surprised. I loved watching their journey. I saw them fall in love. I believed, just like they did, that they were the perfect couple. And I applaud that they jumped into this process with both feet and they were ready to find love. And they knew what true love was. They both had it in their previous lives."

She added, "So I applaud them for doing that. And I also applaud them that when they discovered it wasn’t perfect, that they called it quits, and it’s not the end of the world. And we have to let them live their journey and follow their hearts and it wasn’t right for them, so they split up."

Now, in the thick of her own season, Joan spoke exclusively to Cosmo about taking over the reigns of the franchise and the larger meaning of being the first-ever Golden Bachelorette.

"There was this continuous feeling I had of not wanting the story to solely be about me. I’m one small person in this massive group of millions of people in the second half of life who’ve found themselves single," she mused before adding, "And there are a lot of us who didn’t want to be there, some who are very comfortable with it, and some who have simply lost all hope of finding someone. It’s just too hard. The pool of people is small and it requires a lot of effort, some people think it’s not dignified, and some people think they’re being selfish and shouldn’t think that they deserve a second chance at love."

We don't know about you, but we couldn't be more excited to see how Joan's season shakes out.

Watch 'The Golden Bachelorette' Wednesdays on ABC and Thursdays on Hulu.

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