It was the kind of love story people wanted to believe in — two people finding each other later in life, against the odds, and sharing what looked like a fairy-tale ending. When Theresa Nist accepted Gerry Turner’s final rose during The Golden Bachelor season finale in 2023, audiences across the country felt like they were witnessing something special: not just reality TV chemistry, but something real.
Their televised wedding in January 2024 cemented that impression. They kissed, danced, exchanged vows in front of millions. It felt like the happy ending everyone was rooting for.
But just three months later, that illusion came crashing down. Gerry and Theresa announced their divorce in April. And while the public speculation was immediate — what went wrong? — the couple mostly stayed quiet. Gerry offered some perspective later, mentioning in interviews that the physical distance between their families and his recent cancer diagnosis might have played a role.
But for months, Theresa said nothing.
Until now.
In a June 5 appearance on The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast, Theresa finally opened up — and what she revealed painted a very different picture than the one that had been circulating.
“In his mind, it factored into his decisions, so he just assumed that it factored into mine when it had nothing to do with it,” she said, referring to Gerry’s claim that his cancer diagnosis contributed to their split.
Theresa didn’t mince words. “I would have never left my husband over an illness,” she emphasized. She reminded listeners that she stood by her late husband, Billy, throughout his illness, never once walking away despite the toll it took. For her, love is about showing up — not running away when things get difficult.
What Theresa said next felt more like a sigh than an accusation. “It was just, at one point, Gerry said, ‘This isn’t going to work out, is it?’” she recalled. There was no confrontation, no blow-up fight, no betrayal. Just the quiet crumbling of a relationship that never found its footing beyond the fantasy.
“I’ve never ever said what the reason is,” she admitted. “But right now I decided to start writing about it. I don’t know if I’ll ever release it. It might just be for me.”
Her voice cracked slightly — not in sorrow, but in reflection. Theresa’s words hinted at a quiet heartbreak, one perhaps even more difficult than the public collapse of a marriage: the grief of having no closure.
While Gerry is already moving on — he went public with his new romance with Lana, a retired teacher he met on Facebook — Theresa seems to be taking a different path. When asked if she’d join the cast of the upcoming Bachelor in Paradise, she gave a wry, carefully measured answer: “I think it worked out the way it was supposed to work out.”
She didn’t confirm whether she was seeing anyone new. But she did suggest that she’s in a better place now — or at least getting there.
“Everyone has their own perception of what happened,” she said, addressing Gerry’s upcoming memoir and the possibility he might “promulgate theories” about their divorce. Her tone wasn’t bitter. It was resigned.
Theresa Nist, for all her warmth and optimism, isn’t trying to rewrite the story — just to reclaim her part in it. For months, she let others fill in the blanks. Now, she’s picking up the pen herself.
Whether or not the world ever sees what she writes, it’s clear that the fairytale ending she thought she had didn’t quite pan out. But perhaps something more meaningful is taking its place: the clarity that comes when you tell your truth — even if it’s only to yourself.
