Theresa Nist is speaking out to People magazine, after her ex-husband Gerry Turner revealed he’s battling cancer.
On Wednesday, Turner told the publication he was diagnosed with “bone marrow cancer,” known as Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, and that he told Nist about a month before they announced their split.
Now, she tells People of when she found out, “It was when I visited Gerry in Indiana [sometime in March]. That’s devastating news, really. I was extremely upset.”
She recalled, “He told me though, that it was the type of cancer that he would most likely outlive.”
Theresa went on, “He’s a very positive person and I am, too, and I know that he will do the best that he can to make this a positive experience. And I have every faith that is going to work out that way, that it’s going to be the type of cancer that will not affect his life and that he’ll live to be a very healthy old age.”
Gerry had previously told People that staying in Indiana and close to his family became more of a priority after the diagnosis.
He explained, “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. 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.”
Nist insisted the diagnosis “wasn’t a factor in the ending of the relationship, at least not for me.”
She added, “If that was something on his part, maybe, I don’t know. But no, that didn’t factor into ending the relationship. Part of it was the distance, but that wasn’t the only part. That’s really all I will say.”
They had intended to sell their homes and move to South Carolina, but she said Turner changed his mind.
“[But] Gerry, after he got back home, he kind of changed his mind,” she shared. “He said, ‘No, let’s do it six weeks here and six weeks there.’ And I didn’t want to do that. I really wanted a home together. I wanted the joy of being in a home together and designing a home together. I really thought that was going to be phenomenal. I was looking forward to that so much.”
They were looking at homes online, but Nist thinks house hunting in person would have kept the momentum going.
“I think it just petered out that we were looking at homes back and forth and we could never agree on one. And then the emails just stopped, [and] we weren’t looking anymore,” she explained.
These days they don’t talk much, but she did have this message for Gerry, “I wish him the best and that I know that he was in a very difficult situation and that good things will come to him. And I wish for him a long and healthy, prosperous life, and I hope that he finds his person. I want him to be so happy, and I just wish him all the best of everything in the world.”
As for Turner’s diagnosis, Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia is when white blood cells are turned into cancer cells.
Turner noted in his interview, “Unfortunately, there’s no cure for it. So that weighs heavily in every decision I make. 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.”
He recalled telling Theresa the news, saying, “Certainly, it was hard for me. But the conversation was brief, and I think [she was] a little bit awestruck by the news. So understandable.”
