“Golden Bachelor” Gerry Turner’s ex-wife, Theresa Nist, is heartbroken over his incurable cancer diagnosis.
After People broke the news of his health struggles on Wednesday, she told the outlet, “That’s devastating news, really. I was extremely upset.”
However, she admitted to finding out in March — a month before they announced their split — when she visited him in Indiana.
“He told me though, that it was the type of cancer that he would most likely outlive,” the New Jersey native, 71, explained.
Despite his diagnosis, Nist told the outlet that she hopes her ex can live a “long and healthy, prosperous life” and “be so happy.”
The financial services expert noted that Turner, 72, is a “very positive person,” so she knows 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,” she added.
Nist — who acknowledges that he is “in a very difficult situation” — said that she wishes him “the best” and knows “good things will come to him.”
“I just wish him all the best of everything in the world,” she reiterated.
Turner stunned Bachelor Nation on Wednesday when he announced that he was diagnosed with a slow-growing “bone marrow cancer” called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia.
Per the Dana-Fabar Cancer Institute, Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia is an uncommon blood cell cancer that typically starts in the bone marrow.
The dad of two explained in his interview with People that he found out while getting treatment for a three-year-old shoulder injury.
His orthopedic surgeon told him there was not much they could do for his shoulder before informing him that they had found “some unusual blood markers.”
Turner furthered, “And so [from] an orthopedic surgeon went to my family doctor, my family doctor referred me to an oncologist, and now I’m working with a hematology-oncology group in Fort Wayne.”
It was then that his doctors informed him that there’s “no cure” for the rare type of cancer.
“It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me,” he said of the moment he found out. “And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit to it.”
The diagnosis ultimately led Turner to rearrange his priorities and spend more time with his two daughters and grandchildren rather than with Nist.
“I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that led me to believing that as normal as possible more meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two sons in laws, my granddaughters,” he explained.
“The importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority,” he added. “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.”
However, Nist disagreed with Turner’s assessment and told People in her own interview that his cancer “wasn’t a factor in the ending of the relationship, at least not for [her].”
“If that was something on his part, maybe, I don’t know. But no, that didn’t factor into ending the relationship,” she said. “Part of it was the distance, but that wasn’t the only part. That’s really all I will say.”
Turner and Nist announced they were “mutually” divorcing in April after tying the knot three months earlier.
The former couple –– who finalized their divorce in June –– got engaged on the first season of the “Golden Bachelor” in late 2023.
