Gerry Turner hasn’t given up on his happily ever after despite being diagnosed with an incurable “bone marrow cancer.”
Earlier this week, the “Golden Bachelor” alum revealed his secret diagnosis was part of the reason he and wife Theresa Nist split after just three months of marriage.
Despite his divorce and health woes, Turner told People he is “absolutely, 100 percent still looking for [his] person.”
“It does become a little more difficult now,” he said of dating new people. “If I meet someone and have strong feelings for them, I’m going to have to give them a conversation about my situation, and that would make acceptance much more difficult.”
“I think it would also be a confirmation if a person accepts me in the situation that I’m in, it would be pretty terrific,” he added.
Turner said the ABC series, where he met Nist, taught him that it’s possible to find love no matter the age or situation.
“If there is a message that came out of the show, it is that you’re open to possibilities and that you have hearts and you have hope and you maintain humor in your life,” he said. “I still want to find my person.”
However, the former restaurateur is looking for more of a life partner — not a wife.
“At the age of 73 and knowing all of the entanglements, the legal entanglements, I really don’t know,” he said of the idea of marriage.
“But I would entertain the conversation with someone who was the right person,” he added. “If they felt strongly that they really wanted to be married, I would certainly consider that.”
Turner is also looking for a “Midwest girl” after his marriage to New Jersey-based Nist crumbled due to distance.
“Because of the huge obstacle that I ran into with Theresa about geography and mileage, I’m really trying to focus on meeting someone that is a Midwest girl,” he told the outlet. “Someone close, someone that I can see on a daily basis to learn if they’re the right person and them learn about me, if I’m their right person.”
“Other than that, the characteristics that I looked for [on the show], the humor, the ability to be a partner, the ability to read my emotions and me to read their emotions, all of those things are still there,” he concluded.
On Wednesday, Turner revealed he had been diagnosed with a slow-growing “bone marrow cancer” shortly after he and Nist’s January 2024 wedding.
“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,” he told People.
Since there is “no cure” for the disease, Turner dedicated most of his time to family while Nist was living 700 miles away.
“The importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority,” he candidly explained. “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.”
Turner told Nist about his health woes in March and they announced their decision to dissolve their marriage one month later.
Despite their split, the financial services expert said she “wishes him the best.”
“I wish for him a long and healthy, prosperous life, and I hope that he finds his person,” Nist told People. “I want him to be so happy, and I just wish him all the best of everything in the world.”
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