Gerry Turner has filed for divorce from Theresa Nist, Us Weekly can confirm.
Turner, 72, filed to dissolve their marriage in his hometown of Petersburg, Indiana, on Friday, April 12, the same day listed for their date of separation. He cited “irretrievable breakdown” of their marriage as the reason for the split.
Several hours earlier, Turner and Nist, 70, appeared on Good Morning America to confirm their breakup.
“Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations,” he said on Friday’s broadcast. “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 it’s been 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.”
Turner continued, “I still love this person, there’s no doubt in my mind. I root for her every day.”
Turner and Nist have a prenuptial agreement in place, also planning to return their Neil Lane wedding and engagement rings per contractual stipulations.
Turner and Nist had met on season 1 of The Golden Bachelor, getting engaged on the November 2023 finale. They wed two months later in January and planned to buy a joint home in either New Jersey or South Carolina.
Rumors started swirling about Turner and Nist’s relationship earlier this month when TMZ reported that the pair were living apart. A source later told Us that Turner was residing in his Indiana house while Turner was based in New Jersey, where she worked. The insider noted that the pair were navigating a long-distance marriage and were visiting one another often.
During their Friday appearance on GMA, Nist explained that they never reached an agreement regarding house-hunting plans.
“We looked at homes in South Carolina [and] we considered New Jersey,” she said. “We just looked at home after home, but we never got to the point where we made that decision.”
This is the second marriage for both Turner and Nist, who had each been married to their high school sweethearts. Gerry’s late wife, Toni Turner, and Theresa’s late husband, Billy Nist, had both died years before The Golden Bachelor season 1. Gerry and Theresa each shared two adult children, and multiple grandchildren. with their deceased spouses.
