The widow and mother of four previously won over Bachelor Nation — and Gerry — on “The Golden Bachelor.” But after going on her first and only one-on-one date in week three, she left the show to be with her daughter, who postnatal depression back home.

When she returned to the show for the “Women Tell All” special, Joan said she felt “bad” about cutting off her connection with Gerry. She also credited him with helping her not feel invisible at her age.

“Gerry made me feel visible because he was looking at me, interested in what I was saying and wanted to get to know me,” she said.

And as it turns out, Gerry would become a helpful confidante throughout her journey on “The Golden Bachelorette.”

Joan got relationship advice from Gerry before filming ‘The Golden Bachelorette’

When it came time to prepare for her season of “The Golden Bachelorette,” Joan said she spoke to about four people, including Gerry.

“Probably the best advice I got was from Gerry,” Joan told Business Insider ahead of the series premiere on Wednesday night. “He had recently done it and was on a more similar journey to me in terms of age.”

“He said, don’t invest in someone too early,” she recalled. “There are a lot of people out there, and everyone deserves an equal chance. You don’t know what’s going to happen to your initial feelings for someone.”

Gerry also advised Joan to “let the story unfold with each person, and date them as if they are the only person there.”

Gerry also told Joan, “Given the fast-track format of the show, you shouldn’t waste time.”

“It’s a very, very fast journey and make sure that every conversation is important and that you learn something about the person because you need all that knowledge to ultimately make decisions,” Joan told her.

Joan turned to the show’s psychiatrist to help deal with her guilt when she gave dating another try

Although Joan felt ready to find love again after the death of her husband John in 2021, she didn’t realize she was still grieving for her late husband until she appeared on “The Golden Bachelorette.”

“Emotionally, I feel like I learned a lot that I didn’t know and hadn’t processed since my husband passed away,” Joan said.

Joan said she dated a few more times after John’s death, but she didn’t have any serious relationships until she met Gerry on “The Golden Bachelor.” To her surprise, she ended up hooking up with more contestants on “The Golden Bachelorette.”

“As I was going through this journey, making connections and starting to imagine a life with someone, I suddenly felt guilty and felt like I couldn’t let go of the memory of John,” Joan said, adding that he will always be a part of her.

She said she told the contestants this on the first night and asked the Bachelor psychiatrist for advice on how to deal with her guilt.

“I got this great analogy. They said, ‘You’ve got two balloons in your hands: This is John in this balloon, and this is this other person in this balloon, and you don’t have to let go of John to have this person,'” she said. “So I could still have John in my heart and in my memory and in my mind, and there’s still room for someone else.”

Joan described her season as emotional, both for her and her men.

“There wasn’t a single man who left this season who said he didn’t learn something about himself and come out a different person,” she said.

New episodes of “The Golden Bachelorette” premiere every Wednesday on ABC and stream the following day on Hulu.