Joan Vassos is admitting one of the biggest surprises to come out of the “Golden Bachelorette” was the realization bullying still exists.
In a video shared on Instagram, Vassos is seen sitting in the car with her daughter, Allison, talking about some of the direct messages she receives on social media.
Vassos admitted that while she does get a lot of supportive messages from people going through similar life experiences, the reality star also shared that “more and more” she’s been getting “really mean messages from people.”
In the video, Vassos shared screenshots of some of the rude and malicious messages she’s received from people.
Some of the messages talked about her looks, that she needs to “make better decisions,” or that she was “disrespectful and cruel to Mark,” suggesting that she was a “bad choice” for the Golden Bachelorette.
“The bullying has shocked me,” Vassos told her daughter. “I have to say it does hurt my feelings. At this age, I thought bullying wasn’t a thing anymore.”
Vassos went on to ask Allison if bullying “is still a thing” at your age or if it’s just something “people do to people who are on TV?”
“I think people that are miserable are miserable,” Allison responded. “There’s nothing you can do about it. It doesn’t matter. Age isn’t going to make them less miserable.”
However, Allison agreed with her mom that she was “surprised by how mean people are.”
Vassos continued saying she can’t imagine how “hard it must be to be a teenager now” knowing how much the mean comments of got to her as stronger more mature adult.
“They attack you from this remote location and they can hid behind their screens,” Vassos said. “I’m a little surprised I’m dealing with this at the age of 61 to be perfectly honest.”
Allison then had a final message to all the people hiding behind their screens with only mean things to say.
“Bullying is out dated. Just stop it. It was never cool. It’s not cool. It’s never gonna be cool,” she said. “And does it really make you feel better by making somebody else feel worse?” Vassos questioned.
Vassos was a contestant on the first season of the “Golden Bachelor” last year before becoming the first ever Golden Bachelorette.