{"id":273009,"date":"2025-11-05T12:40:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/273009\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T12:40:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T12:40:14","slug":"golden-bachelor-gerry-turners-new-memoir-in-10-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/273009\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Golden Bachelor’ Gerry Turner\u2019s New Memoir in 10 Sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn Nov. 6, Gerry Turner<\/a>, the 72-year-old bachelor from the first season of ABC\u2019s The Golden Bachelor<\/a> will release his memoir, Golden Years: What I\u2019ve Learned From Love, Loss, and Reality TV<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tTurner found himself on the show after his wife of nearly 45 years died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2017, and his two adult daughters suggested he apply to the show in 2020. The pandemic paused casting and other efforts to launch the series, but filming finally began in 2023.<\/p>\n

Fans of the show may remember that Turner, a retired restaurateur, gave his golden rose to Theresa Nist, a 70-year-old financial services professional from New Jersey. The two married shortly after the finale aired in November 2023. Then, in another twist, they divorced after just three months of marriage in early 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tSay what you will about Turner\u2019s aw-shucks, Midwestern ways (or the fact that his past may not be exactly as he claims<\/a>), but the season was a hit for ABC, and the most watched of the Bachelor franchise since 2021. Time and again, audiences responded strongly to the depiction of seniors (especially older women) dating and finding love.<\/p>\n

\n\tTurner\u2019s memoir is mostly a retelling of his experience leading up to, during, and then shortly after taping of the show. The book reveals new details and slightly different versions of what viewers saw on TV, but ultimately, the sections sure to be most talked about relate to what took place afterwards, in which he badmouths his short-lived flame while lavishing praise on the show\u2019s runner-up. <\/p>\n

\n\tHere are ten of the book\u2019s most illuminating passages:<\/p>\n

On The Death Of His Wife<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, shockingly, out of nowhere, the love of my life, my partner in all things for the last forty three years, was gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within a month of selling their Iowa home and retiring to a small, lakeside town in Indiana, Toni Turner\u2019s health deteriorated quickly and she died of a kidney infection a few months shy of her 65th birthday. It\u2019s later revealed that Toni had hidden from Gerry a Type-2 Diabetes diagnosis, which may have led to her death. Whatever the cause, Toni is brought up throughout the book, and her memory is clearly an inspiration and solace for Gerry.<\/p>\n

On Fame And Representation<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, man, I wanted to wish you luck,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re representing the men of America in this. It\u2019s awesome to see you on TV, and I hope you find love.\u201d
At an In-N-Out in Los Angeles, a man recognizes Turner and gives him his support. It\u2019s a reprise that runs throughout the memoir.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn The Runner-Up<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real red flag for me was her romantic history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner ultimately gave Theresa Nist the golden rose and the two married (if briefly). But the decision came down to Nist and Leslie Fhima. Turner claims that Fhima\u2019s two previous divorces were a major red flag and one of the biggest reasons she didn\u2019t win. Yet, Fhima is still in Turner\u2019s life, while Nist\u2026not so much.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Meeting The Kardashians<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKris and one of her daughters met me at the front door \u2014 if you can call it that \u2014 but I don\u2019t know which one of them she was.\u201d
During publicity for The Golden Bachelor, Turner made an appearance on Hulu\u2019s The Kardashians. While Kendall Jenner says she\u2019s a fan of The Bachelor franchise, Turner can\u2019t return the compliment. He doesn\u2019t know their names, who they are, etc. However, Turner reveals that, off camera, Kris Jenner asked him about getting hearing aids, and the two had a human moment about \u201cthe normal wear and tear on a person\u2019s body at our age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Pre-Nups and Cold Feet<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo days before the wedding, I got a frantic call from my lawyer saying the document was not executable. One of her signatures was missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith the cameras and the excitement gone, Turner admits that the strain of a long-distance relationship (forced to stay under wraps by the show\u2019s producers) made him second-guess his decision to marry Nist. When Turner asked Nist (who works in finance) to sign a pre-nup, she initially balked at the request. When she finally relented, Nist missed some signatures, giving Turner pause.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Consummating The Marriage<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy first night at her house, she took out sheets and pillows before telling me, \u2018Tomorrow\u2019s a big workday. I need a good night\u2019s sleep. Do you mind sleeping on the sofa?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

About a week after their wedding, Turner claims he drove from his home in Indiana to Nist\u2019s home in New Jersey. Not only was he surprised by how small her house was (he claims she uses her stovetop as a vanity because \u2014 amongst other things \u2014 the lack of space), but was sensing a gap growing between them. That distance was most notable in their lack of physical intimacy.<\/p>\n

On Ending Things<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting about six feet from Theresa on a stone bench, I turned to her and asked, \u2018So is it time to just call it quits?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner\u2019s retelling of where and when he and Nist decided to end their marriage might seem a little too polished for some, leading to more questions than answers. As he writes, the two were spending time apart in their respective homes, then reunited in LA for Joey Graziadei\u2019s \u201cAfter The Final Rose\u201d episode. Returning to their hotel, the newlyweds found a secluded bench, had a talk, and decided to divorce after only three months together. Was it really that easy and clean?<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Cancer And Post-Divorce<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2026to be that insignificant to someone I had married, albeit briefly, was very painful. We no longer talk; we have no reason to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after his divorce from Nist, Turner was diagnosed with a rare form of bone marrow cancer. He informed several friends and even some of the women from The Golden Bachelor, but the response he claims he got from Nist was muted and she only followed up with him a few times before they completely stopped talking.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Questioning Motives<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was something about the image of Theresa curled up on one of the couches, planning her strategy to win a rose, that made me feel sick to my stomach.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of his brief marriage to Nist, Turner learns from multiple other contestants on the show that Nist was reading a book called \u201cThe Secret to Finding Love and Fame on America\u2019s Favorite Reality Show.\u201d As he claims, it made him completely question Nist\u2019s motives for being on The Golden Bachelor and why she ever decided to marry him. Ouch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On The Lingering Leslie Question<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I hate to admit it, every time I think about Leslie, I still get emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turns out it should have been Leslie Fhima after all? According to Turner, he and Fhima saw each other during a taping of Celebrity FamilyFeud. After the show, the two had a quiet moment together that must have been electric enough for Fhima to say to Turner, \u201cYou still got it for me?\u201d The two still regularly talk, though Turner claims they are just good friends. Then again, isn\u2019t that the basis of all great loves?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Nov. 6, Gerry Turner, the 72-year-old bachelor from the first season of ABC\u2019s The Golden Bachelor will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,27725,29226],"class_list":{"0":"post-273009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gerry-turner","10":"tag-golden-bachelor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}