Gerry Turner has opened up about his divorce from Thersa Nist in a new interview with People Magazine.
And, in the process, the first-ever Golden Bachelor has made quite the startling and upsetting admission.
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist did not make it as a couple. (ABC)
“There’s a topic that I haven’t wanted to talk about until now,” Turner said to People, adding that he hopes this new information “will clear up a lot of mystery around what happened back in February, March and April.”
Indeed, ABC viewers were aghast when they learned Turner and Nist were filing for divorce mere months after the network aired their wedding.
The former spouses cited distance at the time, claiming they couldn’t settle on a place to live.
“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,” Turner now says.
Theresa Nist shares a laugh here with Gerry Turner. (ABC)
Turner says he was diagnosed this year with a slow-growing “bone marrow cancer” with a “really long name” called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.
(According to the Mayo Clinic, the disease changes white blood cells into cancer cells and builds up in the bone marrow, the spongy material inside the bones where blood cells are made.)
“Unfortunately, there’s no cure for it. So that weighs heavily in every decision I make,” the reality star explains of the diagnosis.
“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.”
Theresa Nist sits with Gerry Turner in this scene from The Golden Bachelor. (Image Credit: ABC)
After disclosing his health update to Nist a month after exchanging vows, Turner received more testing and a bone marrow biopsy.
Turner recalled deciding to “tell her what I knew and I explained the situation to her” in March.
While reflecting on telling Nist the diagnosis, he says his then-wife was “awestruck” by the development, which he completely understood.
“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,” Turner continued. “And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.”
Makes sense, doesn’t it? He hasn’t actually known Nist for very long.
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist were officially husband and wife! Briefly! (Image Credit: ABC)
Back in April, Gerry and Theresa said on Good Morning America “we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to … dissolve our marriage.”
The divorce was finalized in June.
“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,” Turner says of splitting from Nist.
“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.”
It’s unclear how much time Turner has left, but he wants to make the most of it.
“I’m going to pack as much fun as I possibly can into my life and enjoy every moment,” he tells People. “And when I’m gone, I’m gone, but I’m not going to have regrets.”
Gerry Turner Diagnosed with Incurable Cancer was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.