Gerry Turner's tell-all book dives into his side of the 'Golden Bachelor' breakup

NEW YORK -- Gerry Turner, the original "Golden Bachelor" has a new book out about his experiences on the show and his life.

The book is called "Golden Years: What I've Learned from Love, Loss, and Reality TV."

It had been quite a while since the podcast team at "Playing the Field" caught up with Gerry, so what better occasion than to talk about all of his revelations and his new engagement.

"There's been a lot going on, I've enjoyed life tremendously, I feel like life is going great," he said.

Gerry is happily engaged to Lana Sutton now, but in 2023 he was engaged to Theresa Nist after finding love with her on the very first season of the "Golden Bachelor." Their romance was short-lived and they divorced just three months later in April 2024.

Gerry said the process of writing the book began over a year ago, but he wanted to tell his side of the relationship.

"I had stories in my heart that I wanted to get out there, that I wanted everyone to see the rest of the story," he said.

He said that someone had asked him if he was worried about the book coming out and he said, "No, maybe Theresa should be worried because that comment alluded to some of the rest of the story on pages, on hard copy, on maybe all that hadn't been told in the past."

"The truth is the truth and I can't feel like I can compromise what I said if it's truthful, and honest, and from my heart," he added. "That's not going to make me nervous."

His first zinger to Theresa in the book comes as he talks about the tension between Kathy Swarts and Theresa where Kathy famously told her to "zip it." She didn't care for Theresa's oversharing.

"I thought of her as innocently trying to be a good companion, manipulated by the others to overshare. Naturally talkative, she can really put words together!" Gerry said of Theresa in his book, "Turns out, I was the easiest one to manipulate." Yet later he wrote that Theresa's calls with him post-show were "mundane" and he said she came off "almost mechanical."

Gerry added that during their hometown date to visit Theresa's family, "Something about her answers felt rehearsed." He wrote, "Her seemingly calculated answers blocked me from getting to know the real her."

However, he added that Theresa's family reminded him the most of his own.

Among the biggest issues Gerry had with his relationship with Theresa were her not wanting to retire, wanting a home that was too expensive, spending too much money on smoothies, eating only healthy food (he later admits that he should've thanked her and maybe could have learned to eat like her), not cooking frequently enough, not being able to adjust her schedule to talk on the phone, and not inviting him to sleep in her bed on his first overnight in New Jersey with her once they were married.

In the book, Gerry said that he wished they had talked it through, but "one night on the couch turned into two and then three."

"We felt like we were committed to each other, committed to the marriage because we had so many years of committed relationship with our spouses," Gerry said on the podcast. "But by that same token, there was this nagging commitment to our families."

Gerry and Theresa had both been married to their spouses for decades before they had passed away. Neither Gerry nor Theresa loved the idea of moving far away from their children and grandchildren.

When it came to the idea of Theresa sitting down and reading his book, he said that there was a certain level of concern.

"I go back to the past, what has happened in the past, comments that have been exchanged and all too often, comments are left incomplete. Had there been a more complete and thorough statement on the things that had gone on I might have been less inclined to write a book," Gerry said. "When that didn't happen, I really believe that I wanted to express my character, my beliefs, and my morals, and my perspective on what happened, and I really believe that I've done that quite well and I believe everything that I've said in that book is 100% truthful."

Gerry said in the book that he had been having doubts about marrying Theresa prior to their wedding and Faith, who had been on his season, even suggested he back out.

"We felt like we could get it done though, we thought maybe we put the cart before the horse, but we would eventually get to know each other in a deeper way, we would appreciate it and enjoy each other's company," Gerry said of he and Theresa talking about their decision to go through with the nuptials in the first place.

In the book, Gerry does sweetly detail the fact that he wanted Theresa to have the experience of having the wedding of her dreams. But the straw that broke the camel's back was her inability to commit to retiring.

"When she said she wanted and needed to work at least another year, that was a very high concern for me," Gerry said.

When asked if he was worried that people might find the book to be mean-spirited to say all of this after more than a year and a half post-divorce, Gerry said, "I'm sorry you see it that way, it's not intended to be mean-spirited."

"I spent a long time after the divorce until just recently trying to be quiet about this, living under the radar, enjoying life, I really have enjoyed my time, not looking for any spotlight on social media, but certain things nagged at me that people were allowed to think certain things through inference or sometimes through statement and I thought, no, I can only put up with that for so long without telling my side of the story," Gerry said.

In looking forward to the future, his eyes are fixed on Lana. He said that they are not spending any more time looking back when asked if he learned any lessons from his past relationship. "We are enjoying each others time, enjoying each other's touch, and opinions, and humor so much, that I guess lessons isn't exactly something we've thought about."

He shared the manuscript with Lana, she took a few days to digest it, and then said, "I'm fine with it."

Gerry is doing a few events here and there but isn't doing a book tour per se. He said he's just happy to get these stories off his chest.

As for the current "Golden Bachelor" Mel, Gerry said he's in a difficult spot but totally understands what he's going through. We'll have to wait to see if they end up connecting over their shared experience in the future.

Gerry's book is available at all major book retailers and online.

Theresa released a statement to the "She's All Bach" podcast saying,
"Out of respect for his family, I had decided a long time ago to not say anything, to take the high road and to keep what happened between us, between us. So, I can't tell you how disappointed I am that Gerry has decided to talk about me in such a disparaging way. Nothing he has said about me or how our conversations went is accurate or happened in the way he is describing it. I'm not sure if Gerry has a bad memory or if he just thought it would sound more dramatic with how he revised it. It makes me really sad to know how empty and trapped he felt prior to our wedding. I wish he had just been honest with me. I really believed he loved me but clearly he had me fooled. His behavior behind closed doors makes a lot more sense now."

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