wants to make it clear that‘s cancer diagnosis had nothing to do with their divorce — at least not from her POV.
Turner, 72, revealed on Wednesday, December 11, he had been diagnosed with a slow growing bone marrow cancer shortly before their split. Nist, 71, subsequently told People on Wednesday that the health issue “wasn’t a factor in the ending of the relationship, at least not for me.”
“If that was something on his part, maybe, I don’t know. But no, that didn’t factor into ending the relationship,” she explained. “Part of it was the distance, but that wasn’t the only part. That’s really all I will say.”
Turner confirmed to the outlet that he has Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, which is a disease that changes white blood cells into cancer cells and builds up in the bone marrow. The Golden Bachelor found out about the diagnosis while he was still married to Gist — but they had other issues that contributed to their breakup.
“[Four weeks is a] very short span of time to get to know someone, and it’s a very accelerated pace,” Gist said about falling in love with Turner on the ABC reality show. “During that four weeks, it’s not that you’re with that person every day anyway. There were only certain times that I was with him one-on-one.”
Turner and Nist got married earlier this year with cameras rolling. Just 90 days after their televised wedding ceremony, the pair shocked Bachelor Nation fans when they announced their split.
Us Weekly broke the news that same day that Turner filed to dissolve their marriage in his hometown of Petersburg, Indiana. He cited an “irretrievable breakdown” as the reason for their divorce. Shortly before their breakup made headlines, Us confirmed that Turner was residing at his lake house in Indiana while Nist stayed at her home in New Jersey.
Nist elaborated on her initial plan to move in with Turner. “That was the plan. I was selling my home. He was selling his home,” she added on Wednesday. “I wasn’t forcing him to go to South Carolina.”
Turner told Nist he was “sick” of his lake house in Indiana and was looking for a change.
“[But] Gerry, after he got back home, he kind of changed his mind,” she recalled. “He said, ‘No, let’s do it six weeks here and six weeks there.’ And I didn’t want to do that. I really wanted a home together. I wanted the joy of being in a home together and designing a home together. I really thought that was going to be phenomenal. I was looking forward to that so much.”
She continued: “We looked at homes just virtually. We never got there, and it never happened. So that would’ve been a thing to do differently, to actually go to South Carolina and go see things and see them in person instead of just looking at them online because that wasn’t enough.”
Their marriage ultimately “petered out” when they couldn’t decide where they would live together, with Nist saying, “We were looking at homes back and forth and we could never agree on one. And then the emails just stopped, [and] we weren’t looking anymore.”
Turner and Nist haven’t remained in contact since their split. Nist, however, did pass along a message to Turner during her individual interview.
“I wish him the best and that I know that he was in a very difficult situation and that good things will come to him,” she said. “And I wish for him a long and healthy, prosperous life, and I hope that he finds his person. I want him to be so happy, and I just wish him all the best of everything in the world.”
Nist also revealed when she found out Turner had cancer, adding, “It was when I visited Gerry in Indiana [some time in March]. That’s devastating news, really. I was extremely upset. He told me though, that it was the type of cancer that he would most likely outlive.”
Despite there not being a cure for Turner’s cancer, he has remained optimistic.
“He’s a very positive person and I am too, and I know that he will do the best that he can to make this a positive experience,” Nist concluded. “And I have every faith that is going to work out that way, that it’s going to be the type of cancer that will not affect his life and that he’ll live to be a very healthy old age.”
Turner, for his part, told People that his diagnosis made him want “to continue on as normal” as possible.
“When you are hit with that kind of news and the shock wears off after a few days or a few weeks and you regroup and you realize what’s important to you, that’s where you start to move forward,” he shared. “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.”
