The Golden Bachelor alum April Kirkwood has admitted she tried to warn Theresa Nist about Gerry Turner before the newlyweds’ April 12 split.
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April, who competed against Theresa on The Golden Bachelor last year, wrote to Theresa in an Instagram comment on Monday, April 15, “I wish you the very best.”
April, 66, continued, “I truly tried to tell you, but this was your lesson to experience. Much love!”
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April’s comment was in response to Gerry, 72, and Theresa, 70, publicly announcing their split and decision to divorce after only three months of marriage.
Gerry and Theresa conducted a lengthy interview about their breakup on ABC Nightline, which aired in the evening on April 12, but a clip of it aired hours earlier on Good Morning America. Gerry filed for divorce from Theresa that same day in Indiana.
April received some backlash for her condescending remark to Theresa, including how it was “too soon” to essentially tell her friend, “I told you so.”
April seemed to be suggesting that Theresa had rushed into her live televised wedding with Gerry on January 4, which was less than two months after Gerry and Theresa’s engagement aired on The Golden Bachelor finale right after Thanksgiving in late November 2023.
April responded to one critic, “I care for all women in the world. I [want] us all to learn from each other and be smart and empowered. Lessons offer us the opportunity. We’ve all had our hearts broken… what we do with it is entirely up to us!”
“Let’s rock this world Ladies,” she added. “[Theresa] can lead the way!”
But April apparently continued to face hate and negativity.
As a result, April apologized for her comment to the New Jersey native in Theresa’s Instagram comments.
“I would like to publicly apologize for my error in judgment. I sincerely meant no ill will,” April insisted.
“I wish all women only peace and power to be their best selves. This was not the one for me. Much love and gratitude for understanding.”
The Golden Bachelor runner-up Leslie Fhima offered up some kind and supportive words to Theresa.
“I love you my friend. I’m so happy to call you that,” Leslie commented on Theresa’s Instagram account. “You’re beautiful inside and out.”
The Golden Bachelor’s senior ladies all appeared to largely adore the show’s star, Gerry, in one way or another — except for April.
“I really wasn’t feeling the connection to Gerry… I’m glad he’s not my guy. I don’t look like I belong on a wedding cake with him,” April admitted to former The Bachelor star Nick Viall on “The Viall Files” podcast late last year.
The therapist from Port St. Lucie, FL, said that when she first met Gerry, she thought he was “well groomed” and “good looking,” and she added how his blue eyes were “dazzling” and he was certainly “his charming self.”
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But by the time Gerry chose to eliminate April at the fourth Rose Ceremony of the season, she was apparently relieved — and not surprised at all by her ouster.
According to April, Gerry had “ignored” her during filming, which she found very offensive.
“Now, there were times when Gerry and I talked and he just seemed to look right past me,” April claimed.
“And as a counselor, I’ll tell you the meanest thing you can ever do to any human being is ignore them, and that did hurt my heart.”
April elaborated, “I mean, tell me you don’t like me, tell me you think I’m a bi-atch, tell me I’m naive or I’m sweet, whatever. Tell me anything, but don’t ignore me… I will never ignore anybody.”
April apparently wanted Gerry to make her feel like she was “alive,” and that she mattered.
“[His behavior] hurt me a lot, and he did it constantly to me. There was nothing I could do,” April lamented on the podcast.
For starters, Gerry allegedly had “no reaction” when April rocked a bunny tail on the back of her Rose Ceremony dress on Night 1.
And April — who has a self-proclaimed “eccentric” and “quirky” personality — claimed that Gerry didn’t get her jokes, nor did she feel she could be her fun and playful self with The Golden Bachelor star.
April also pointed out how she and Gerry have “very different” lifestyles, hobbies and taste in musical.
“There seemed to be an age difference, even though there isn’t. I think age is a mental state,” April reasoned.
“Even if I don’t live young, I like to think I live young… For the most part, I’m out there trying to find my passions in music in life and in dancing, song, and movies.”
Even though April felt rejected by Gerry for weeks, she said appearing on The Golden Bachelor made her a “stronger” person.
“Because now I know that I will be more forward in telling people, ‘I see you, I know you, you are loved, you are important,'” April explained, later adding, “There’s no reason to be nasty or cold or rude or dismissive.”
April also confessed that she was shocked Gerry had let Ellen Goltzer go before hometown dates on The Golden Bachelor.
“But, you know men, sometimes they think in the kitchen area,” April quipped. “One thing I learned: Men are men [and] whether 70 or 17, they’re all driven by hormones.”
Gerry, meanwhile, wasn’t exactly crazy about April either. Gerry said during an appearance on Live with Kelly & Mark that he found it “annoying” when April had faked an ankle injury during filming.
Gerry listed April 12 as the pair’s date of separation in the divorce papers, and he cited an “irretrievable breakdown” of marriage as the cause of his split from Theresa, according to Us Weekly.
Theresa also confirmed on ABC Nightline that she and the retired restaurant owner had signed a prenuptial agreement.
“So many people wanted us to sign a prenup, and we do [have one],” Theresa revealed with a big smile. “We thought it would be best for our families.”
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Up until April 12, the couple had been putting on a united front.
Gerry and Theresa just recently walked the red carpet together and filmed an episode of Celebrity Family Feud, after which Gerry boasted about the couple’s “blended family” reuniting on social media.
The couple’s bombshell divorce announcement made headlines about two weeks after reports they were still living separately had surfaced.
During their interview with Juju Chang on ABC Nightline, Gerry and Theresa revealed they’re divorcing because neither one of them was willing to relocate and move away from their adult children and families.
Gerry is still living at his lake house in Indiana, which is about 45 minutes away from his ageing father, Everett Turner.
Theresa, meanwhile, currently resides in her native New Jersey, where she works full-time in financial services and has a home of her own near several of her grandsons.
“The thing that strikes me the most, and in our conversations, is how dedicated both of us our to our families,” Gerry said as Theresa nodded in agreement.
“So we look at these situations and I think we just feel like it’s best for the happiness of each of us to live apart.”
But Juju was openly skeptical of the couple’s explanation, as many Bachelor Nation alums have been as well.
“I hear what you’re saying… and yet throughout the process you said you were 100% committed to making it work,” she said. “In November you told me you were thinking of moving to South Carolina to be together. How did it all fall apart?”
“Yeah, so that was the plan,” Theresa replied.
“We looked at homes in South Carolina. We [also] considered New Jersey. We just looked at home after home but we never got to the point where we made that decision.”
Sessions with a marriage counselor apparently helped Gerry and Theresa decide to move in the direction of divorce rather than trying to stay together.
However, the reality TV stars insisted they have not fallen out of love, despite their choice to part ways.
During the ABC interview, Theresa also insisted a November 2023 media report that Gerry misrepresented his past throughout The Golden Bachelor’s production and broadcast run and allegedly had a live-in girlfriend of nearly three years before he appeared on the show played no role in her decision to divorce.
“No, not for me,” Theresa said. “Because Gerry had already discussed that with me, he had already explained that to me before the report was ever released — so we were good with that, that didn’t play into it.”
“No,” Gerry shrugged.
The Golden Bachelor stars also shared that they plan to continuing looking for love in new relationships.
“Oh yeah,” Gerry told Juju.
“Yes,” Theresa acknowledged. “And we tell everyone else to continue looking for love.”
When the Los Angeles Times previously asked Gerry if he’d continue to seek stardom or just live a quiet life with Theresa post-show, Gerry had replied, “I don’t think those two things are mutually exclusive.”
“I can have a great, quiet life with Theresa and still look at the aspirations and ambitions that may be out there,” he elaborated in December.
“But I will say this, I am absolutely going to savor every moment until I get to that altar and say my ‘I do’s.’ I want every single moment to be as joyful for her as it is for me, and I never want to look back and feel I hurried through anything. We’ll deal with the aspirations after that.”
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About The Author:
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.