The Golden Bachelor’s Leslie Fhima is weighing in on ex Gerry Turner’s tell-all book.
“I have not read it. I have read excerpts from it,” Leslie, 66, said on the Thursday, November 6, episode of the “2 Black Girls, 1 Rose” podcast. “I feel that I don’t know if I want to read it. I mean, I have read the chapter about me.”
Leslie shared that Gerry, 74, sent her the chapter from his book, Golden Years: What I’ve Learned from Love, Loss, and Reality TV, “a long time ago” and wanted to get her stamp of approval. In Leslie’s perspective, the gesture was “very respectful.”
“To be honest, he has nothing bad to say about me. Other than him breaking my heart, I made peace with him. I made peace with when he was with Theresa [Nist],” she said, referring to Gerry’s ex-wife. “I was happy for her.”
In Gerry’s book, the former Golden Bachelor admitted that he has “several regrets” from his time as the lead — including judging runner-up Leslie about her past marriages and financial situation.
“I still have gut-wrenching pain when I think about the way I hurt her,” he wrote.
Moments after ending his relationship with Leslie in the 2023 season, Gerry went on to pop the question to Theresa, now 72. Despite the milestone moment, Gerry wrote that he felt “empty” while “standing on the platform set up for the proposal.”
“I had already made the decision that I was going to propose to Theresa, so the feeling wasn’t my resolution. Rather there was no happiness in the moment,” Gerry wrote, noting that he thought his “dark mood” was because of “lack of sleep” and empathy for Leslie. He went on to admit that he doesn’t know if Theresa “won by default.”
While detailing his relationship with Theresa, Gerry claimed that he felt “trapped” leading up to their 2024 televised wedding and made other allegations about the downfall of their romance.
Leslie, for her part, shared on Thursday that she has been supporting Theresa in the aftermath of the book — but also aims to be neutral on the situation.
“I told Theresa this, I will support my friend — I adore her, I love her — but it’s not my fight. I don’t know if that sounds …. I don’t want to be cold about it. I’m not saying they’re in a fight. It’s just not my thing,” Leslie said. “But I will support her and listen to her and I will give her advice. But I kind of want to be a little Switzerland because it’s just not my fight.”
Leslie explained that she offered Theresa her shoulder to cry on, but said her pal “really hasn’t” but “has been upset many times.”
Theresa, meanwhile, shared her side of the story during a Tuesday, November 4, appearance on the “Dear Shandy” podcast and admitted that she would have been “relieved” if Gerry shared his hesitations with her before the wedding. (Theresa and Gerry announced their plans to divorce months after their 2024 nuptials.)
“I have to say that I always said I like to live my life without regrets, but boy I made some mistakes here,” Theresa said. “I regret getting married so quickly. That shouldn’t have happened.”
