Golden Bachelor star Mel Owens addresses his controversial remarks about women over 60: 'Unfair, ...

The reality star says he didn't realize his comments were hurtful and that he apologized to the bachelorettes on the first night. Golden Bachelor star Mel Owens

The reality star says he didn't realize his comments were hurtful and that he apologized to the bachelorettes on the first night.

*Golden Bachelor *star Mel Owens addresses his controversial remarks about women over 60: 'Unfair, insensitive'

The reality star says he didn't realize his comments were hurtful and that he apologized to the bachelorettes on the first night.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at*  *with over five years of experience covering the latest in entertainment. A proud Kingston University alum, Emlyn has written about music, fandom, film, television, and awards for multiple outlets including MTV News, *Teen Vogue*, Bustle, BuzzFeed, *Paper Magazine*, Dazed, and NME. She joined EW in August 2022.

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Published on August 1, 2025 12:25PM EDT

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'The Golden Bachelor' star Mel Owens. Credit:

Maarten de Boer/Disney

*The Golden Bachelor* star Mel Owens is addressing the controversial comments he made about not wanting to date women over 60 on the reality dating show.**

Owens, who is 66 years old himself, sparked heavy backlash in June when he revealed that he told producers he was only interested in dating women between the ages of 45 and 60 while visiting the *In the Trenches With Jon Jansen* podcast. He also explained on the episode that he insisted his bachelorettes be fit and that producers "stay away from the artificial hips and the wigs."**

Now, Owens says he didn't realize just how hurtful his comments were until a friend called him up. "She said, 'What you said was insensitive, and it's just not who you are,'" he told *Glamour* in a new interview. "My reference of dating was 39, 40 years old. I hadn't dated in 26, 27 years. That's what I told her. She goes, 'It doesn't matter. You've said some things that are just incredibly wrong.' And I go, 'I've got to apologize.'"

Mel Owens in New York City in May 2025.

Pawel Kaminski/Disney

Owens went on to explain that he "didn't know anything" about *The Golden Bachelor *ages before signing up for the show, and hadn't actually watched the original *Bachelor* since its series premiere in 2002.

"I'm thinking, to me, the age range was 45 to 60," he said, "That's my age range. I'm thinking that's the gold years for me. My reference, again, was when I was dating at 39, 40. I hadn't dated in 26 years, so I had no clue. And that's why I said that comment. I didn't know."

He also took a moment to clarify his remarks about not wanting to date women who have had hip replacements, noting that it was just "part of the reference of age" and that he doesn't mind if one of his suitors has had one. "I'm an attorney," he said. "I represent athletes with injuries, and most of them are football, hockey… a lot of them have artificial… so I know that people have them."

Owens added that he extended a mea culpa to the women on the show for his remarks. "When I first walked in, I addressed it," he said. "I apologized to them. I said, 'It was unfair, insensitive. I want to earn it back. Just give me the chance.' And hopefully, these last two weeks I earned some of that back."

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He also shared his surprise reaction to online speculation that he'd been booted as the Golden Bachelor in the fallout from his comments. "When people said to me, 'Hey, are you getting replaced?' I go, 'Not that I know of,'" Owens said. "And I wasn't, again, actively searching frenetically, like, 'Oh my gosh, what's going on?'"

Owens said he now plans to gain back the trust of *Bachelor* viewers by "being fair and apologetic and honest" throughout the rest of the process.

"Watch the show and see if I earn it back," he said. "Because I apologized [night one]. You have to be earnest in your work to get the trust back. Everybody there is smart, and they can see through you if you're lying or you don't mean what you say. That's why I say tune in. Hopefully the show will show that the women that are in their golden years… are doing these amazing things. It's inspirational."

Mel Owens in May 2025.

Jose Alvarado/Disney

Both *Golden Bachelor *and *Bachelorette* stars have spoken out in the wake of Owen's original comments. That includes first-ever Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner, who told Fox News Digital that he hoped Owens would have a "change of heart" about his age restrictions.

"The people that I met in my season, I go through them, and it's like, they're all a gift," Turner said at the time. "To have gotten to know them… Each and every one of them [brought] some unique characteristics to the show, unique characteristics to life. The age thing… ignore the number, deal with the person."

*Bachelor in Paradise* star Kathy Swarts told ** that Owens would've never made that comment if he'd met her.

"It'd be like, 'Whoa, I never knew someone could be this fabulous over 60, over 70,'" she teased. "I think he's going to be just fine... I think Mel is a guy looking for love, and I think he said something without really thinking about it. I don't think he meant it. I think it's going to be a great season. I personally can't wait — unless I swoop in and take him away. In which case, show over!"

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