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Gerry Turner made history in the Bachelor franchise as the first Golden Bachelor star, finding love with Theresa Nist. But just three months after their televised wedding, they announced their divorce on Good Morning America on April 12, 2024.
Although the couple cited distance at the time as one of the reasons, in a recent interview with PEOPLE, the 72-year-old revealed, "As Theresa and I were trying very hard to find our lifestyle and where we were going to live and how we were going to make our life work, I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer."
Turner found out after checking in on a shoulder injury he got after teaching a pickleball class three years prior. The doctor explained they couldn't help the shoulder, but they found unusual blood markers.
After being referred to an oncologist and a hematology-oncology group in Fort Wayne, Turner was diagnosed with a slow-growing "bone marrow cancer" called Waldenström's macroglobulinemia. "Unfortunately, there's no cure for it. So that weighs heavily in every decision I make," he explained.
He decided to tell Nist in mid-March, "But the conversation was brief and I think [she was] a little bit awestruck by the news. So understandable," he shared. The diagnosis made him realize his family was his priority.
"I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that led me to believe that as normal as possible more meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two sons-in-law, my granddaughters," he continued.
Speaking of his short-lived love he said he wishes Nist "all of the good luck in the world, that she finds everything she wants to."
He said their relationship "was wonderful." "I certainly wish it would've had a different ending, that we would've found our way, that we would've found solutions to a problem,"' Turner said adding, "And most of all, that I would not have had a diagnosis that so strongly influenced my decisions and the direction I went."