Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner Reveals Cancer Diagnosis
In an interview with People on Wednesday, Golden Bachelor alum Gerry Turner revealed he has bone-marrow cancer. He said that the diagnosis contributed to his split from ex-wife Theresa Nist. “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,” he said.
Turner, 72, starred as the lead of The Golden Bachelor’s inaugural season in 2023, where Nist appeared as a contestant. On the show, the two bonded over the loss of their late spouses and got engaged in the season finale, which aired last November. The couple tied the knot in a televised wedding special this past January. Only three months later, however, they announced they were divorcing in a joint Good Morning America interview, citing long-distance issues and disagreements about where they planned to live: Turner is based in Indiana, Nist in New Jersey. “Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations, and we’ve looked closely at our situation, our living situation and so forth, and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to dissolve our marriage,” Turner said at the time.
Now, Turner says he hopes going public about his diagnosis will help “clear up a lot of the mystery” around the separation and show people it was not a “rash, fast decision.” He says he first found out about the cancer after an orthopedic surgeon he saw for a shoulder injury detected unusual markers in his blood. Turner eventually went to an oncologist, who initially told him he had a blood disorder. After additional testing and a biopsy, the doctor diagnosed him with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a form of cancer where white blood cells turn into cancer cells that build up in the bone marrow. “It was like ten tons of concrete were just dropped on me… Unfortunately, there’s no cure for it,” Turner said, recalling that Nist was “a little awestruck” by the news. He told People the cancer impacts “every decision” he makes, including his divorce: “I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that led me to believing that as normal as possible more meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two son-in-laws, my granddaughters,” he said. “The importance of finding a way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.” Calling their relationship a “cherished memory,” Turner told the outlet he believes the diagnosis “probably” influenced Nist’s decisions as well.
Meanwhile, in her own interview with People, Nist said that Turner’s “devastating” diagnosis wasn’t a contributing factor in the separation for her, adding that her ex-husband told her he would “most likely outlive” his cancer. “If that was something on his part, maybe, I don’t know. But no, that didn’t factor into ending the relationship,” she said on Wednesday. “Part of it was the distance, but that wasn’t the only part. That’s really all I will say.”
“I wish him the best … I know he was in a very difficult situation and that good things will come to him,” Nist said of Turner. “I wish for him a long and healthy, prosperous life, and I hope that he finds his person.”
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