How Has Joey Graziadei’s Dad Influenced His Journey on The Bachelor?
Joey Graziadei honored his dad, Nick Graziadei, with a birthday tribute on Instagram. He posted two recent photos of them together along with a short, but sweet, message on July 18.
“Happy birthday Dad!” Joey, 29, wrote. “Thank you for always being the best listener and support system. Love you big.” Nick popped into the comments section to reply, “Thank you! Love you BIG son!”
There were also several other members of Bachelor Nation who shared their well wishes for Nick. “This photo is so precious !! HAPPY BDAY,” Kaity Biggar wrote, while Jason Tartick added, “Can we get more of your dad please!” Joey’s fiancée, Kelsey Anderson, also left a message, writing, “Birthday boy!!!”
Fans first got to learn about Joey’s dad when the tennis instructor was a contestant on Charity Lawson’s season of The Bachelorette in 2023. Early in the season, Joey opened up about his father coming out as gay, and Charity, 28, got to meet his family during hometown dates later on. While Joey finished the season as the runner-up, he was then chosen as the Bachelor, which brought his family into the spotlight once again.
Although Nick divorced Joey’s mom, Cathy Pagliaro, after coming out, he still has a close relationship with his ex-wife, and appeared on the show with her and Joey’s two sisters. The family supported Joey during the premiere episode and then returned for the finale to meet his final two women.
In May, Joey and Nick made a joint appearance on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, where they opened up about their close relationship. Nick also discussed how “difficult” it was to come out as gay as a married father of three young children. When he came out, Cathy had recently been diagnosed with MS, which made the situation even harder.
Nick said he didn’t think it would be “fair” to leave his wife amid her medical issues, but added, “I didn’t want my kids to live in a home where their parents weren’t happy.” He added, “That happiness wasn’t going to be there and that would be unfair to them. I wanted them to grow up in a home [where] they were happy. It wasn’t easy, but my goal was that I didn’t want my kids to live in an environment where people weren’t truthful.”
Meanwhile, it took Joey years to find out the real reason behind his parents’ divorce. “We were really young,” he explained. “I think mom told us we were gonna see you more on the weekends. I knew they weren’t together anymore but I didn’t necessarily understand why.
In a previous interview on “The Viall Files” podcast, Joey also explained, “My little sister was a year or two younger than me. She knew right away that my dad had a boyfriend and everything. I thought it was his roommates. It took me a while to figure it out until, actually, I was in, I want to say, middle school.”
However, Joey said nothing changed in his relationship with his father after he learned the truth. “It’s just an understanding that he lived his true self,” the reality star confirmed. “I appreciate so much that my dad did that. I just think he’s a really special person.”
