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Gerry Turner is opening up about his past mental health struggles.
In his upcoming memoir, Golden Years: What I’ve Learned From Love, Loss, and Reality TV, the 74-year-old Golden Bachelor alum detailed the aftermath of his split from wife Theresa Nist. According to an excerpt from the book obtained by TMZ, Turner revealed that he considered ending his life due to the public backlash surrounding his divorce.
“One night, while I was lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, it all became too much, and for the briefest moment, I thought about putting a gun to my head,” he wrote in part, per the outlet.
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Turner, who was married to Nist for three months before they decided to go their separate ways in April 2024, went on to share that he usually has a “marathon mentality” about getting past negativity and “had never been the depressed type,” but this felt different.
When he thought of the impact his suicide would have on daughters Jenny and Angie, Turner explained that he knew he could never do it. He admitted that rather than wanting to die, he wished he could escape the life he was living at the time.
“I dreamed of renting a room in some remote part of Alaska no one had ever heard of and not coming out for a month” Turner wrote.
Turner and Nist met in August 2023 when he was the inaugural Golden Bachelor. They got engaged at the end of the season, which aired in November of that year, and tied the knot in January 2024.
The couple announced their decision to divorce during a joint interview on Good Morning America on April 12, 2024, and Turner officially filed that same day.
“Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations, and we’ve looked closely at our situation, our living situation and so forth, and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to dissolve our marriage,” he said on the show.
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Then, in December 2024, Turner announced to PEOPLE that was diagnosed with an “incurable” and “slow-growing” form of bone cancer, although he said he remained optimistic about his future.
“I feel great,” he shared on the April 15 episode of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast. “Until I have any symptoms, there’s no treatment. So I go frequently for blood tests. I’m on, like, a six-month schedule now, and I feel optimistic because the doctor has said, ‘Well, when you turn 75, we’re going to have to go three-month increments.’ So it’s telling me that at least he expects me to live another couple of years to get to that. But the bottom line is I feel really good.”
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Turner has since gotten engaged to his new partner, Lana Sutton, who he started dating in the Spring.
“We’ve got BIG news. The Golden Bachelor is OFF the market,” Turner wrote in an Instagram post on Oct. 3, which featured photos of the couple spending time together by the beach as Sutton showed off her engagement ring. “I found my perfect match and she said ‘YES’. I Love this woman.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
