Theresa Nist Disputes ‘Golden Bachelor’ Gerry Turner’s Claim of Cancer Diagnosis as Reason for Breakup

The he said/she said between divorced Golden Bachelor alums Theresa Nist, 71, and Gerry Nist, 73, doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

In a podcast interview with iHeartRadio’s Almost Famous Podcast on June 5, Nist responded to Turner’s claim that their marriage dissolved because he was diagnosed with Waldenström macroglobulinemia, an incurable but slow-growing form of blood cancer that mostly builds up in bone marrow.

“I was just so surprised that he even said that. I knew about the cancer a long time ago,” she said. “The way Gerry presented it to me was that, ‘The doctor said that I’m going to die of old age before this cancer gets to me.’ He bluffed it off, like it really wasn’t that important, and he had no symptoms, and he still doesn’t.

“So we never had a conversation that said, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re sick. I can’t stay with you now. I have to leave.’ That never happened,” she adds.

Nist also told The Bachelor alums Ben Higgins and Ashley Iaconetti Haibon that she would have “never left my husband over an illness.”

Her response comes after Turner, 73, sat down with People magazine for an exclusive interview published in December 2024. While chatting with them, he told the outlet about the difficulty of sharing his health diagnosis with his then wife.

“When you are hit with that kind of news and the shock wears off, you realize what’s important to you,” Turner says. “I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that [meant] spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two son-in-laws, my granddaughters. And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.

“And I hope that people understand in retrospect now that that had a huge bearing on my decisions, and I think probably Theresa’s as well.”

Turner’s cancer was discovered when he met with an orthopedic surgeon after dealing with a bothersome shoulder injury for multiple years.

“Finally I got around to going [to the doctor], and the orthopedic surgeon said, ‘Yeah, Gerry, there’s not much we can do for your shoulder, but there are some unusual blood markers here,’” he continued.