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One afternoon this past August, I drove to Malibu to spend a few hours observing The Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner on his first group date with 12 women. This was before the contestant announcement, so I had no idea who the women were, what they looked like, or how old they were. Though I normally like to be much more prepared, the plus side was that I had no preconceived notions of who I was talking to or what their story was. If anything, I now blame myself for being cynical that we’d get the typical Bachelor contestants, just “older.”
Enter Susan Noles, a 66-year-old wedding officiant and makeup and hair stylist from Philadelphia. She was dressed in hot pink ’70s attire with a flower power headband, peace sign earrings, and pink-tinted round glasses, and I wasn’t sure if she’d brought this ensemble on her journey, or if she’d requested it from the production team. (As I learned from last night’s episode, the production team picked out a bunch of clothing for a hypothetical romance-novel cover shoot, and the ladies had to choose the outfit that most spoke to them.)
When I met Susan, she gave me a big hug before proclaiming with her big, East Coast voice, “I am 66 years old and so excited and enjoying every moment of this journey!”
Having interviewed Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants for a decade, I've heard that line many times before, minus the age part. But it felt different coming from Susan. There was a sincerity to her declaration, and I felt it.
Perhaps it was because minutes earlier, I’d met Natascha, a 60-year-old pro-aging coach and midlife speaker from New York (Side note: Gerry, we need to talk; why on earth did you send this joyous woman home?!). When I commented how wonderfully festive she looked, Natascha said, “I did not do my own makeup today.” I expected her to say that the show had brought in a professional makeup artist, but once again, shame on me. “We have a woman in our house who is a hairstylist, a makeup artist, and she also cooks,” Natascha revealed. “Her name is Susan. She’s done practically everyone’s hair in the house. She did my makeup for me.”
I hadn’t even met Gerry yet, and I can honestly say that’s the moment I fell in love with The Golden Bachelor.
So when Susan came up to greet me with a hug and proclaim how excited she was to be there, I felt the same excitement for her.
“I hear you’re the woman doing everyone’s hair and makeup,” I said.
“I am, yes,” Susan said with a huge smile coming across her face. “I love doing it. I’ve done hair and makeup for 35 plus years…. Some people don’t have that knack and they’re struggling. So for me to make somebody happy and help them? That gives me lots of energy right there, lots of love.”
Susan goes on to tell me there has been no drama in the house this first week, and I actually believe her. “If one person cries, I cry with them,” she says. “We all love each other and we’re happy. When Theresa got her first one-on-one date, everybody felt a little pang of jealousy, if you will, but we were so happy for her. So the difference in us 60-plus-year-olds is that you’re genuinely happy for the next person. You don’t want [a relationship where] you do all the wanting. They’ve got to want you back. I’ve met so many beautiful people that I promise I will spend time with after this.”
ABC, I’m telling you right now: If Susan doesn’t end up with Gerry, I want to see this woman as our first Golden Bachelorette. (And that’s before I saw her helping Theresa do her hair ahead of her one-on-one date, or jumping out of Gerry’s life-size birthday cake. What can’t this woman do?! Well, bake, apparently.)
And just when I worried that maybe Susan was putting everyone else’s needs and wants ahead of her own, she immediately stole Gerry for some one-on-one time after that birthday cake surprise. Honestly, shame on me yet again. Susan is motherly and caring and supportive, but she’s also not one to sit in a corner and wait her turn.
“I hope viewers realize that being 60-plus years old doesn’t mean you’re done. It absolutely doesn’t,” she says to me during a break in filming the group date. “I am in hippie clothes right now, okay? On national TV. Now, my kids are going to be mortified…but people, don’t give up. Even if [Gerry] is not the one for me, this journey and meeting all these beautiful people means you’re still alive.”
And then, as if I couldn’t admire this woman more, she drops this gem: “Don’t look in the mirror and criticize yourself. See what’s in your heart and put it out there and live your life. Whether it’s alone, with girlfriends, with a man—it doesn’t matter. I’ve been divorced for almost 18 years. I’ve had some relationships, and that was great. Just wasn’t the right one.”
Susan: The first Golden Bachelorette or the next Julia Child. Either one sounds good to me. ABC, I hope you’re listening.
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Jessica Radloff is the Glamour senior West Coast editor and author of the NYT best-selling book, The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive, Inside Story, coming to paperback with 16 pages of new photos, on October 10. You can preorder here.
