Gerry Turner The Bachelor franchise made history as a first The Golden Bachelor Star, find love with Theresa Nist. But after just three months of their marriage, they announced their divorce Good morning America on April 12, 2024.
© GettyAlthough the couple cited distance as a factor at the time, in a recent interview with People, the 72-year-old revealed, “Because Theresa and I were trying so hard to figure out our lifestyle and where we were going to live and How we were going to make our lives work, unfortunately I was diagnosed with cancer.”
Turner found out three years ago after checking in after a shoulder injury while teaching a pickleball class. The doctor explained that they couldn’t help the shoulder, but they did find traces of unusual blood.
After being referred to an oncologist and a hematology-oncology group in Fort Wayne, Turner was diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a slow-growing “cancer of the bone marrow.” “Unfortunately, there is no cure for it. So it weighs heavily in every decision I make,” he explains.
He decided to tell NIST in mid-March, “But the conversation was brief and I think so [she was] A bit surprised by the news. So understandable,” she shared. The diagnosis made her realize that her family was her priority.
“I wanted my life to continue as normal as possible, and that led me to believe that being as normal as possible meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two sons-in-law, my granddaughters,” he continued. .
© GettySpeaking of her short-lived love, she said she wished Nist “all the luck in the world, that he finds what he wants.”
She said their relationship was “fantastic”. “I certainly wish that it would have had a different ending, that we would have found our way, that we would have found a solution to a problem,” Turner added, “and most of all, that I didn’t have a diagnosis that affected my decisions and It strongly influenced the direction I went.”
