The Golden Bachelor couple Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist have revealed when they started talking about breaking up and getting a divorce.
|
|
Gerry and Theresa, who got married during a live televised wedding special on January 4 on ABC, announced their shocking decision to get a divorce during a clip of their pre-taped ABC Nightline interview that aired on ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday morning.
RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Theresa and Gerry, whose interview aired in full on ABC Nightline on Friday night, admitted that their relationship fell apart when they tried to settle into the real world after The Golden Bachelor wrapped and neither one of them was willing to relocate and move away from their families.
According to the spouses, they began discussing the possibility of breaking up about two months after tying the knot.
“[Our conversation] began fairly recently,” Gerry told ABC Nightline co-anchor Juju Chang.
“Yeah, like three weeks ago it started,” Theresa elaborated.
Gerry then revealed he and Theresa had “some really good conversations” about whether they had a future together.
“They were probably the most honest and direct conversations we’ve had,” Gerry shared.
“Yes, really,” Theresa agreed.
“And it was like the light bulb went on that we were of the same mind,” Gerry recalled. “And we started talking about whether or not it was the right thing to do, to divorce or to try to stay together.”
The couple’s bombshell divorce announcement comes about two months after reports they were still living separately had surfaced.
Gerry is still living at his lake house in Indiana, which he said 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.
Gerry and Theresa revealed that they sought help from a marriage counselor to try to bridge the gap and figure things out.
“That’s when counseling came into play,” Gerry said, adding that those sessions were “very useful” to them.
“The counseling helped us decide more clearly and more confidently the direction we wanted to go,” Gerry acknowledged.
“There wasn’t any fighting,” Theresa added. “It was a very gentle conversation.”
RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELORETTE’ COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID ‘THE BACHELORETTE’ STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Theresa also confirmed that she and Gerry, who were holding hands during their entire interview, 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.”
Juju, pointing out how Gerry and Theresa’s split “so abruptly,” asked the former lovebirds, “There was no sense of, ‘Let’s just pretend for a while?'”
“We didn’t want to pretend for anybody,” Theresa replied. “We wouldn’t lie to anyone.”
“No,” Gerry agreed. “She’s 70 and I’m 72. That’s kind of a waste.”
“Yeah, we can’t do that,” Theresa reiterated.
But Theresa and Gerry did put on a united front recently while walking the red carpet at the Hulu on Disney+ celebration in Los Angeles, CA, on April 5.
Gerry and Theresa also subsequently filmed an episode of Celebrity Family Feud with other The Bachelor, The Bachelorette and The Golden Bachelor alums. Gerry even posted a photo on social media — which featured Theresa and their adult children — gushing about how his “blended family” played the game together.
Since Gerry and Theresa claimed they’re still in love with one another, Juju was openly skeptical of the couple’s explanation for their split.
“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.”
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.
RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ COUPLES NOW: WHO DID ‘THE BACHELOR’ STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
The Golden Bachelor stars also admitted they each planned to continuing looking for love in new relationships.
“Oh yeah,” Gerry told Juju.
“Yes,” Theresa added. “And we tell everyone else to continue looking for love.”
Gerry and Theresa fell hard for each other on The Golden Bachelor and got engaged during the season finale, which aired right after Thanksgiving in November 2023 on ABC.
After the couple got engaged on The Golden Bachelor, Gerry and Theresa had told multiple media outlets that they planned to have a fresh start by moving to South Carolina together.
“For the last couple of years, when my family gets together, I’ve talked about moving to South Carolina, and it’s an idea I’ve toyed with. And then in conversation with Theresa, a private moment, she’s saying, ‘Well, yeah, my son lives near Charleston in South Carolina,'” Gerry told People in December 2023.
“And all of a sudden, it’s like, there’s a big problem that is gone. The issue of compromising on where to live and how to reconcile families and all of that is, it’s no longer an issue.”
Theresa had gushed at the time about how she wanted to build a big home with Gerry so their children and grandchildren could visit and have plenty of room to stay.
Afterward, Gerry drove 10 hours from Indiana with his dog to visit Theresa in New Jersey on January 9.
Gerry — an Iowa native who has been living in Indiana since 2017 — and Theresa tried new restaurants together, and they even recreated their first The Golden Bachelor date with a trip to a local diner.
Gerry and Theresa were asked if they were still planning to move to Charleston together during a January 16 appearance on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast, which is co-hosted by Bachelor in Paradise spouses Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.
Theresa shared at the time, “We’re still going to look there, yeah, absolutely… We’re going to consider New Jersey, but it’s probably going to be outside of Charleston. So that’s the plan!”
“The plan is that we’re going to plan. We’re going to sit down and plan, and all of a sudden, my wheels started spinning about our trip to Italy.”
Theresa had said she and Gerry were thinking about going to Italy, a trip ABC had gifted them, in May or June of this year.
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.”
RELATED LINK: ‘THE BACHELOR’ FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!
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.