Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist. Photo:Taylor Hill/WireImage; John Fleenor/Disney via Getty Images
Gerry Turner has a new love in his life.
The 73-year-old revealed that he is dating someone new on the Tuesday, April 15 episode of Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt's Bachelor Happy Hour podcast — and he already gave his ex-wife Theresa Nist a heads up about it.
"At this point, it's going well, but I don't wanna say too much and jinx it. And I'm trying to respectfully get to a point where there's an acceptable amount of time from my divorce. Maybe that's an old-fashioned thought, you know, maybe it doesn't matter as much as I think it does, but to be respectful, I kind of want to slow roll this," Turner said, referring to his April 2024 divorce from Nist that came just three months after they wed on TV.
Turner added that he has "told Theresa that I'm dating someone," so his revelation "won't be shocking news to her."
His new partner has even met his two daughters, Angie and Jenny. "I think the fun part there is, she has daughters that I really relate to, and her daughter, she relates well to my daughters. So we've been around each other briefly, but it's been fun. It's been a very enjoyable encounter."
Theresa Nist and Gerry Turner during "The Golden Wedding".John & Joseph Photography/Disney via Getty
Turner also addressed the collapse of his marriage to Nist, as he said that the exes weren't "ever on bad terms."
"I think from my side of it, my perspective, I withdrew from her. I felt like maybe I was a source of bad feelings and the negativity that came out of the show and so forth. So I kind of avoided talking to her and not out of, you know, ill will or being combative at all. Just, I thought it was better if we gave each other space," he said.
Looking back, he said that he's "not so sure anything went wrong" between them in the end, but instead reiterated that their "mutual deep devotion to our families kind of reared its head."
"Her being a brand-new grandmother and me having gone through the loss of a spouse and feeling the support of my daughters, it almost created a situation where we recognized fairly quickly that we weren't going to find that spot where we could be together. And I think more than anything, that was it."
He added, "And I really feel like there was a mutual admiration and respect and empathy in both ways that we kind of understood the other person's situation."
Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist attend the official launch of Hulu on Disney+.Frank Micelotta/Disney via Getty
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Turner admitted that if distance hadn't been such a challenge — he lives in Indiana and Nist lives in New Jersey — they would prob be together still. "If you eliminate that huge obstacle, I can see no red flags," he said. "I still don't see any reason why it wouldn't have worked out. But we were also so new to the relationship that we may not have uncovered that layer of the onion that could have been a problem yet."