The Golden Bachelor alum Theresa Nist has explained why she didn't quit her job for Gerry Turner when she had allegedly promised to do so while filming the show's first season.
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"There were so many red flags that there was no way that would be a smart move for me to leave my job," Theresa said during the November 4 episode of the "Dear Shandy" podcast.
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Gerry and Theresa got engaged on The Golden Bachelor's Season 1 finale in November 2023 and then rushed to wed in early January 2024.
The pair announced their decision to split a few months later, and their divorce was finalized in June 2024.
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Gerry recently said one of the main reasons he and Theresa broke up was because she refused to quit her New Jersey-based finance job when she had allegedly told him while filming The Golden Bachelor that she'd leave her job if she found the right guy.
Gerry recalled how Theresa's revelation had played a pivotal role in him choosing her at the end of his season because he looked forward to retiring and traveling with his partner.
Gerry wrote in his book, Golden Years: What I've Learned From Love, Loss, and Reality TV, that Theresa keeping her job was "less a desire and more a financial need" so she could save more for retirement.
"I was a little resentful," Gerry wrote, according to "Shandy" host Sharleen Joynt, "because her economic situation wasn't at all what she had described on the show, leading me to wonder what else I had misunderstood or what else she had misrepresented."
But Theresa apparently had a good reason for continuing her job.
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"In a heartbeat, I would've quit my job if he WAS the right guy," Theresa insisted on the "Dear Shandy" podcast.
Theresa alleged that Gerry called her names, criticized her and put her down. She said Gerry had a very "bad temper" and got angry at her a lot, even when she was trying to be nice to him.
Theresa therefore claimed that when she and Gerry were still an item, she had a plan for how to proceed in their relationship with caution.
"My plan was to keep my job and keep my house and then go the whole year and go on all of these trips with him and THEN know if this was the right thing to do," Theresa explained.
"And not only that, when that story came out with that woman who called herself Carolyn -- who had lived with him [after his first wife Toni Turner passed away] -- I didn't read it at the time, but it came out when we were together."
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Theresa admitted that knowing what she knew about Gerry, Carolyn's claims were "ringing true" for her at the time.
"Because a lot of the things that he did with me just showed a mistrust of me, a distrust, and I didn't know if it was just he didn't trust me or if he had trust issues," Theresa explained.
"I didn't know. I didn't know his history. But he [also] didn't trust her."
Carolyn told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2023, after The Golden Bachelor's Season 1 finale aired, that she had dated Gerry for about three years and lived with him in Indiana for almost two years beginning in Summer 2018.
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Carolyn alleged that once she moved in with Gerry, he asked her to split all household expenses and the cost of dining out 50/50, even though she struggled to find a job near his home.
Carolyn also recalled Gerry demanding cleanliness in his home and criticizing her body after a 10-pound weight gain.
When the couple broke up in late 2019, Gerry allegedly kicked Carolyn out of his house and she was so stressed and frazzled that she fell down the stairs in his home and ended up having surgery on her foot.
Carolyn essentially made Gerry look cheap and shallow, but Gerry minimized their relationship in an interview with Katie Couric.
Theresa said she could actually relate to Carolyn because she "felt pressured" by Gerry to quit her job, live with him, and do similar things.
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"If there weren't these red flags, I would've left in a heartbeat," Theresa reiterated.
"There wouldn't have been any hesitation on my part, but I had so much hesitation. But I don't know that he would've seen that."
Sharleen pointed out how Gerry makes it seem in his book like he felt misled, lied to and manipulated by Theresa.
"I could've [left work], but I honestly said I wanted to make more money. I did say that," Theresa recalled.
But Theresa claimed if she had told Gerry the truth about her doubts and concerns, "it wouldn't have gone over well" with him.
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"I think he would've ended it right then," Theresa recalled, adding, "And he would've gotten angry."
Theresa also insisted she'd "never, ever" take Gerry's money and that he didn't seem to believe her, especially when they were negotiating their prenuptial agreement.
"What doesn't belong to me, doesn't belong to me," Theresa noted.
Theresa said she did not intentionally delay signing their prenup, despite what Gerry wrote in his book.
While Theresa appears to be single, Gerry has moved on with retired Indiana teacher, Lana Sutton. Gerry announced their engagement in October.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
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