Theresa Nist: Gerry Was ‘Sick’ of Indiana Home But ‘Changed His Mind’
The Golden Bachelor alum Theresa Nist and Gerry Turner were making plans to tackle distance before their divorce — until they weren’t.
After accepting Gerry’s proposal on The Golden Bachelor season 1, Theresa, 71, told People that the pair wanted to move together to Charleston, South Carolina.
“That was the plan,” she said on Wednesday, December 11. “I was selling my home. He was selling his home.”
While Theresa’s son lives in South Carolina, she explained she “wasn’t forcing” Gerry, 72, to go to the state.” (Theresa shared son Tommy and daughter Jen with her late husband, William “Billy” Nist.)
Theresa, who resides in New Jersey, claimed that Gerry had told her he was “sick” of his home in Indiana and was seeking something new.
“[But] Gerry, after he got back home, he kind of changed his mind,” she said. “He said, ‘No, let’s do it six weeks here and six weeks there.’ And I didn’t want to do that. I really wanted a home together. I wanted the joy of being in a home together and designing a home together. I really thought that was going to be phenomenal. I was looking forward to that so much.”
Theresa claimed she and Gerry looked at homes virtually, rather than visit the locations in-person. “We never got there, and it never happened,” she said. “So that would’ve been a thing to do differently, to actually go to South Carolina and go see things and see them in person instead of just looking at them online because that wasn’t enough.”
“I think it just petered out that we were looking at homes back and forth and we could never agree on one,” she continued. “And then the emails just stopped, [and] we weren’t looking anymore.”
After meeting on season 1 of The Golden Bachelor, Theresa accepted a proposal from Gerry in the 2023 finale. The pair tied the knot in January, but announced their plans to divorce months later.
While the duo have been tight-lipped on the exact reason for their split, Gerry revealed on Wednesday his health battle was the reason why he hadn’t wanted to talk about the details.
“I think it’s time, also because it probably will clear up a lot of mystery around what happened back in February, March and April,” Gerry told People in a separate interview. “As Theresa and I were trying very hard to find our lifestyle and where we were going to live and how we were going to make our life work, I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer.”
Gerry shared he was diagnosed with a slow-growing “bone marrow cancer” with a “really long name” called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.
“Unfortunately, there’s no cure for it. So that weighs heavily in every decision I make,” he said. “It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me. And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit to it.”
While Gerry said he wanted to continue living his life “as normal as possible,” he admitted to spending more time with his family. “And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority,” he said.
“When you are hit with that kind of news and the shock wears off after a few days or a few weeks and you regroup and you realize what’s important to you, that’s where you start to move forward,” he said. “And I hope that people understand in retrospect now that that had a huge bearing on my decisions and I think probably Theresa’s as well.”
Theresa, who recalled hearing the news from Gerry in March, shut down the idea that his diagnosis impacted their decision to end their marriage. She explained to People that his cancer “wasn’t a factor in the ending of the relationship, at least not for me.”
“If that was something on his part, maybe, I don’t know,” she said. “But no, that didn’t factor into ending the relationship. Part of it was the distance, but that wasn’t the only part. That’s really all I will say.”
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