From his divorce from Theresa Nist after three months of marriage to his shocking cancer diagnosis, “Golden Bachelor” star Gerry Turner has had quite the year, but those setbacks are not stopping him from finding love again.
“I have dated a bit, off and on,” Turner, 73, told Fox News Digital. “Currently, you know I am dating someone, and I will continue my search to find my partner for the rest of my life.”
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, the reality TV star and retired restaurateur opened up about his cancer journey thus far, explained how the diagnosis led to his split with Nist and shared why his new love interest is “quite refreshing” from previous relationships.
‘GOLDEN BACHELOR’ GERRY TURNER SAYS INCURABLE CANCER DIAGNOSIS LED TO THERESA NIST DIVORCE
“You know, let’s not go into labels yet,” Turner said when asked if he considers this new woman his girlfriend. “It might be a little early for that. We haven’t been dating that long. You know, a very short time.”
“There is a certain freedom involved, a certain acceptance for who I am,” he said when describing his new fling. “Almost a humorous lack of understanding of where I’ve come from in the last year, year and a half. It’s really quite refreshing to have someone who hasn’t seen all the history in a relationship with me. They didn’t watch the show. They’re not interested in what’s on social media. They don’t care.”
Turner and Nist married in January of this year in a televised ceremony after Turner proposed in the season finale of the ABC reality dating series.
WATCH: ‘GOLDEN BACHELOR’ GERRY TURNER DATING NEW WOMAN SINCE CANCER LED TO DIVORCE FROM THERESA NIST
Turner filed for divorce in his hometown of Petersburg, Indiana, on April 12, citing “irreconcilable differences.” His filing came several hours after the couple’s split announcement on “Good Morning America.”
“Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations,” he said on “GMA.” “We’ve looked closely at our living situations, and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s time for us to dissolve our marriage. The things that strike me the most in our conversations (is) how dedicated both of us are to our families. So, we look at these situations, and I think we just feel like it’s best for the happiness of each of us to live apart.”
‘GOLDEN BACHELOR’ STARS GERRY TURNER AND THERESA NIST DIVORCING 3 MONTHS AFTER TELEVISED WEDDING
“I still love this person, there’s no doubt in my mind. I root for her every day.”
The duo finalized their divorce in June.
During a recent interview with People magazine, Turner revealed he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in March.
“There’s a topic that I haven’t wanted to talk about until now,” Turner told the outlet, referring to his split from Nist. “I think it’s time, also, because it probably will clear up a lot of mystery around what happened back in February, March and April.”
He continued, “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’s bone marrow cancer goes by a “really long name,” according to the star. He was diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, which, according to the Mayo Clinic, “is a type of cancer that begins in the white blood cells. Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia is considered a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It’s sometimes called lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma.”
WATCH: ‘GOLDEN BACHELOR’ GERRY TURNER AND THERESA NIST HAVE HAD ‘ALMOST NO CONVERSATION’ ABOUT HIS CANCER JOURNEY
“Unfortunately, there’s no cure for it,” Turner told the outlet. “So that weighs heavily in every decision I make. It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me. And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit to it.”
Turner told Fox News Digital that his diagnosis was “very much a factor” in his decision to split from Nist.
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“I think it’s the unknown element that people wondered about all this time,” he said. “You know, the question was always, ‘What’s going on? You know, there’s got to be more to the story.’ And the truth of the matter is that when I got that news and I got over that period of time where I just felt like I had just been gut punched, I realized the things that were the most important. I kind of fell back to the old habits, the old familiar feelings of a family and my two daughters and thinking about when my wife passed away and how that affected not just me, but my girls.”
“I’m not sure it’s all completely logical, but sometimes feelings aren’t logical,” he added. “But the bottom line is that it had a huge impact on my thinking about my relationship with Theresa and that marriage.”
While Nist told People the news was “devastating,” she was hopeful given Turner’s optimism.
“He told me, though, that it was the type of cancer that he would most likely outlive,” she told the outlet. “He’s a very positive person, and I am, too, and I know that 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.”
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Since the diagnosis, however, Turner said the two have had “almost no conversation” about his journey thus far.
“There’s been almost no conversation with Theresa about [the cancer diagnosis],” he told Fox News Digital. “When I told her about it in February, we had only one brief follow-up conversation after that… And that was it.”
“There’s really no communication,” he added. “There hasn’t been for quite some time.”
However, Turner said he wishes nothing but “the very best” for Nist.
“I have absolutely no animosity,” he said. “There’s nothing that makes me feel like that. I want her to be very successful at whatever endeavor she pursues.”
Fox News Digital’s Janelle Ash contributed to this report.
