Former Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner said he felt “quite a bit of betrayal” from ex-wife Theresa Nist after news of their divorce went public.
“The day before we were interviewed with Juju Chang and announced that we were going to be divorced, we solemnly agreed that we’re going to look out for each other, and I think that was the noble thing to do on both of our parts,” Turner, 74, shared during the Thursday, November 6, episode of the “I Do, Part 2” podcast. “Part of that agreement was that neither of us would put out a unilateral statement.”
Turner claimed he and Nist, 72, were told it would be a “good idea” to “just stay quiet” in the aftermath of the split news.
“48 hours later, Theresa’s putting out a public statement,” Turner continued. “I’m going, ‘Come on.’ That’s not in our mutual best interest.”
Turner and Nist got married in January 2024, months after his proposal aired on the first season of The Golden Bachelor. By April 2024, Turner and Nist announced their separation. Days later, Nist broke her silence in an Instagram post.
“It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, something I never expected to happen at this point in my life and I truly thought it was going to last forever,” she wrote at the time. “It turns out, even at the age of 70, you don’t know everything. Sometimes things don’t go the way you planned and that’s OK.”
During Thursday’s podcast episode, Turner explained that he thought they had “set the stage” to move on. “It turned out, that wasn’t the way it happened,” he added.
Elsewhere in Thursday’s podcast episode, Turner expressed that he felt like “a failure” after his Golden Bachelor journey.
“Back in the real world, once I got there, things changed. I was very despondent after the divorce. I thought, ‘Man, after 43 years of success, I did something that was a real failure.’ I felt personally responsible for that failure,” he shared. “I’d failed myself and my own values and what I believed in and so forth. So it took me quite some time to get over that.”
Things changed for Turner when now-fiancée Lana Sutton walked into his life. The couple started dating earlier this year, and Turner proposed last month.
“It became timeless. There was no timeline involved,” he explained. “We didn’t even think about the time lapse and the age and all of that.”
Turner and Nist have been making the podcast rounds as of late amid the release of his new book, The Golden Years. The tell-all detailed the real reason for his divorce from Nist, among other revelations.
“I was, I believe, made out to be a villain,” he told Us Weekly exclusively in a cover story last month. “Right before Theresa and I went on Good Morning America to announce that divorce, we agreed that we would protect each other, and I don’t feel like that happened. I felt like I was taking the brunt of the situation.”
Nist responded to some of his claims — including the moment he wrote about feeling “trapped” before their marriage — in an exclusive statement to Us at the time.
“It makes me very sad to think that he felt empty and trapped,” Nist said. “I wish he had said something and just ended it. But at least now I understand why he was so hurtful to me so many times. And I will say this. Those in glass houses should not throw stones. I do wish him all the best.”
