Joan Vassos may have found love with fiancé Chock Chapple on The Golden Bachelorette, though she still honored her late husband, John, on the fourth anniversary of his death.
After she saw Left on Tenth on Broadway in New York City with Chock, 61, Joan, 62, took to Instagram on Sunday, January 20, to reflect on the experience.
“What a night for @chockchapple and I at our first Broadway show as a couple! @leftontenth was phenomenal and we got to go backstage after to meet the stars: Julianna Margulies, Peter Gallagher, Peter Francis James and Kate MacCluggage!” she wrote alongside photos of them backstage at the show as they met the cast.
Joan went on to reflect on how the “story really hit home” for her. The Broadway show is about a woman navigating a late in life romance following the death of her husband.
“Today is the fourth anniversary of John’s passing and these talented actors captured the feelings I had the days and years after that terrible day. It was a beautiful story about allowing yourself to fall in love again after loss in your golden years,” Joan wrote about the show.
The former reality star then ended the caption on a hopeful note. “There is always a light in the end and theirs were bright as we all cheered for them as they took their bows! Thank you to the cast and team at Left On Tenth for a night we’ll never forget!” Joan concluded.
Joan and John were married for 33 years before he died at the age of 59 in January 2021. He passed away following a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. During their marriage, the couple welcomed children Nicholas, Erica, Allison and Luke.
Ever since she made her reality TV debut, she had been open about how John’s death played into her experience on The Golden Bachelor and The Golden Bachelorette.
“I feel like he maybe had a little hand in me actually getting here, honestly,” she told Entertainment Tonight about her late husband in June 2024. “He told me right before he passed away, ‘You need to go out and find somebody else. You were the best wife in the world and I want you to be happy.’ He gave me this wonderful gift before he died, and he said go and do something, and so here I am.”
Joan also admitted that grieving John’s death was a difficult part of her time on the show. “I really struggled with that in the middle of the season,” she told People in November 2024. “The Bachelor gives you access to psychiatrists that are actually at the mansion with you on the show, and so I did that. I actually had an appointment with them and we talked about what it would be, why it was so hard for me to move on in this journey and that I felt like I was still in love with John and I never would not be in love with him. And they’re like, ‘Well, that’s fine.’”
During the process, Joan said she was instructed to imagine she had “a balloon in each hand.” One balloon represented John and the other was “this other person that you have feelings for.”
“I just needed to hear that it was OK,” she continued. “I didn’t have to not love John anymore, and I didn’t know that.”
While Joan has made sure to continue to pay tribute to John, she found love again when she and Chock got engaged during the season 1 finale of The Golden Bachelorette in November 2024.
