Joan Vassos was cast as the lead of The Golden Bachelorette, but the role was offered to a major television star first. The inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor was a big surprise hit for ABC. Audiences fell in love with 72-year-old retired widower Gerry Turner and rooted for him to find love after losing his beloved wife. Gerry dated 22 women and gave his final rose to 70-year-old fellow widower Theresa Nist. The two were married in a televised wedding in January. Sadly, Gerry and Theresa announced their divorce just a few short months after getting married.
Despite the failed marriage, the show was so beloved that a female-led version of the show would surely happen. There were many opinions about who should be cast as the lead. Several former contestants were favored to lead the show, such as Faith Martin, Susan Noles, and Kathy Swarts. The name of soap opera star Susan Lucci was also thrown around as an option. Producers had the same idea because, according to the soap opera diva, she turned the role down before Joan was announced as The Golden Bachelorette.
Who Is Susan Lucci?
The soap opera star is nothing short of a living legend. Susan Victoria Lucci is 77 years old and was born December 23, 1946, in Scarsdale, New York. Lucci is best known for playing Erika Kane in the daytime soap opera All My Children, which she played for the soap's entire run from 1970 to 2011. The role is considered one of the great icons of television.
No stranger to reality television, Susan also competed in Dancing With The Stars season 7, finishing in sixth place.
She became famous for not being able to win an Emmy. Starting in 1978, she was nominated almost every year for her work on All My Children and kept losing. It became a running cultural joke, and Susuan even starred in a television commercial for sweetener, in which she screamed, "11 years without an Emmy! What does a person have to do around here to get an Emmy?"
Susan Lucci's Love Story
Like The Golden Bachelor, Gerry, and The Golden Bachelorette, Joan, Susan is a widower. Erica Kane may have married many men, but Susan was a one-man woman, marrying the love of her love, Helmut Huber, in 1969. Helmut was an Austrian chef, and the couple had two children together, Liza Huber and Andreas Huber. Susan and Helmut were married for 52 years until he died in 2022 at the age of 84.
Why Susan Turned Down The Golden Bachelorette
In a recent interview with People, Susan revealed producers had contacted her publicist about being The Golden Bachelorette, but that it wasn't for her. The interview also revealed that Susan is a fan of The Bachelor franchise and really enjoyed The Golden Bachelor. Though she didn't get specific about why the role wasn't for her, it's probably at least in part because her husband of 52 years only died a couple of years ago. She may not be ready to open her heart again yet.
The Golden Bachelorette, starring Golden Bachelor contestant Joan Vassos, is one of the most-anticipated fall shows. Here's what to know about it.
Though ABC doesn't comment on casting news, a source told People that she was never offered the role.
Susan didn't claim she had been offered the role, just that The Golden Bachelorette producers had contacted her publicist. If Susan turned the role down due to the fact that it was too soon since her husband's passing, perhaps she would reconsider the possibility in the future. There's also the chance that the publicist made the whole thing up to seed the idea into public discourse. If so, it might just work.
This news comes on the heels of the revelation that Jenn Tran wasn't the first choice for the lead role on The Bachelorette. Since she was announced as the show's lead, both Daisy Kent and Maria Georgas have claimed they were both offered the role and turned it down. These reports that the shows have struggled to secure leads, on top of The Golden Bachelor divorce and the absence of Bachelor In Paradise from the network's schedule, have led to speculations that all is not well in Bachelor Nation.
