A recent exposé upended The Golden Bachelor’s narrative that star Gerry Turner is a retired restaurateur who hasn’t dated since his late wife’s death, and now the man in the middle of the gossip is speaking out.
Turner answered inquiries about the Hollywood Reporter story — which reported, among other claims, that he had a months-long relationship with another woman after becoming a widower — in recent interviews with The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.
“I guess I haven’t really looked at it as how accurate it is,” Turner told The New York Times. I’ve more looked at it in terms of timing, and how it really doesn’t fit with all of the positive things that are going on in my life right now. I mean, I’m sitting across from [Golden Bachelor winner and fiancée] Theresa [Nist] right now, and I look at her, and she’s the love of my life. And I really don’t have time to think about some of the other stuff. … I gave [the Hollywood Reporter story] a cursory look, so that’s about all I could say.
And to the Los Angeles Times, Turner said, “My only response is that I have so many positive things in my life right now. I have the wonderful love of Theresa, my partner. I don’t have time to reflect on comments like this. I’m happy to look forward.”
Disney/John Fleenor
A day before the Golden Bachelor finale aired, THR ran a story titled “The Golden Bachelor’s Not-So-Golden Past,” reporting “several inconsistencies regarding both [Turner’s] work history and recent romantic entanglements that contradict” the narrative presented on the ABC dating show.
Despite Turner saying that he hadn’t dated in 45 years, for instance, THR reported that he dated a woman for 10 months and then lived with her for one year and nine months. The woman, identified under the pseudonym Carolyn in the article, said that Turner berated her for gaining 10 pounds and then broke up with her. He was also suspicious when she injured her foot in a staircase fall when she was packing up her things, she said.
THR also reported that Turner, despite being labeled a “retired restaurateur” on the show, lasted owned a restaurant in 1985 and worked in sales and management positions in the meat business, installed hot tubs for a business in Iowa, and then did maintenance work at a nearby mental health center. His LinkedIn profile does not list an end date for his employment, the exposé noted.
Turner and Nist will return to the screen in a wedding special, The Golden Wedding, which will air live on ABC on January 4, 2024, at 8/7c.
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