The Golden Bachelor alum Gerry Turner has insisted he's not a villain and that Theresa Nist is 50 percent at fault for their divorce after only three months of marriage.
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"Quite honestly, there were some perceptions that I wanted to put on the right track," Gerry, 74, told Us.
"The question was constantly, 'Why are they getting divorced so quickly?' And I was, I believe, made out to be a villain. After a while, I kind of revolted at that. I said, 'Hey, this is two people making a mutual decision.'"
After The Golden Bachelor aired Gerry and Theresa's engagement in November 2023, the pair rushed into a wedding and got married in early January 2024 for a televised special on ABC.
But Gerry, who lives in Indiana, announced his split from Theresa, who currently resides in New Jersey, in April 2024, citing distance as their main issue during a joint appearance on Good Morning America.
"One of the grudges I had is that right before Theresa and I went on Good Morning America to announce that divorce, we agreed that we would protect each other, and I don't feel like that happened," Gerry said.
"The only person who could come to my defense was her. And the only person who could come to her defense was me. And I was disappointed that that didn't occur. I felt like I was taking the brunt of the situation. And I go, 'No, wait a minute, that's not right. It's 50/50.'"
Gerry elaborated of the situation, "We were strongly advised not to make any independent statements [after GMA]. Literally 48 hours later, she was making a statement to social media. And I go, 'No, that was not what we agreed to do. That was not our plan.'"
After Gerry filed for divorce in April, their divorce was finalized in June 2024.
Gerry teased that he's going to reveal the real reasons behind his split with Theresa in his memoir.
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But for starters, Gerry told Us, "We didn't have much time together between the show [ending] and the wedding. And I think that's very unfortunate -- certainly unintended by ABC, circumstances got in the way."
And he was apparently upset that Theresa wasn't willing to quit her job in finance so they could be retired together and enjoy traveling.
"On the show, I asked Theresa if she was ready to quit her job. I remember sitting at the table at our last dinner -- lamb chops were there, and I was starving. Some of these details, I remember. And we got into a conversation about her career," Gerry claimed.
"And she said, 'When I meet the right guy, I'm ready to end my career. I'm ready to finish my career.' To me, what I heard was, 'There is a woman who's going to be willing to travel, to have some adventure, to do some things that I consider -- or that we should consider -- fun.'"
But Gerry alleged that Theresa changed her mind once they got engaged and filming ended.
"After the show, in conversations we had between the time we were engaged and we were married, her conversation always went back to, 'Well, I really want to keep working.' And that just pretty much makes it an impossible situation," Gerry lamented.
"I really wanted to have that fun partner, someone who had, you know, served out their career and was stable and was really looking forward to a healthy situation where they could go and travel and have fun."
He added, "When you take that element away, that radically changed the situation for me, and the relationship for me."
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Gerry, however, said he also took accountability for his part in the divorce, which will be included in his book.
"Certainly. I was a bit naive; I was a bad listener. I didn't probe well enough, and that's both for my sake and for Theresa's," Gerry admitted.
"Had I been better at some of those areas, maybe there would have been a different end."
Theresa, for her part, recently said distance wasn't the main reason for her split from Gerry and his bone marrow cancer diagnosis absolutely had nothing to do with it.
Theresa refused to publicly disclose the exact reason, in her opinion, why her relationship with Gerry didn't work out, but she has suggested in multiple media interviews that they didn't have enough time to get to know each other.
Gerry told the magazine that Theresa "should be worried" about the content in his book because there will "be some things that have not been said or revealed before.
Gerry said while he believes it's time "for those things to be revealed" -- in the most "candid" and "sensitive" way possible -- he still wishes Theresa all the best.
"I have no regrets in that book whatsoever. We all have goals in life. We all deserve to be happy. So I certainly wish the same to her as I would all of the women [from my season] and myself, and that she finds her path to her full happiness," Gerry said.
"And, you know, there's nothing wrong with embracing a career like she does; maybe that's her source of happiness. I think that would be wonderful; I just wish I would have known that, if that's the case."
Gerry, however, was able to move on, and he claims to have found true love with a retired Indiana teacher, Lana Sutton.
Gerry announced his engagement to Lana on October 3.
"For a long, long time, I said, 'No, that'll never happen,'" Gerry said of getting married again. "Now that I have someone who makes me so happy, I can't say no to that anymore."
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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
