The Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner has opened up about his journey with Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) — a slow-growing bone marrow cancer. He shared this experience with hosts, Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt, on the latest episode of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, released on April 15, 2025.
The reality TV star was diagnosed with WM back in March 2024 — about two months into his marriage with Theresa Nist, and approximately a month before their split. It began with a shoulder injury he obtained in 2021 while teaching a pickleball class. Overwhelmed with his busy schedule, especially during filming (The Golden Bachelor), Turner kept postponing his visit to the doctor. However, after getting around to it, he was eventually diagnosed with the disease. Turner has previously expressed his sentiments about the whole unfortunate scenario in an interview with PEOPLE back in December 2024, saying: “It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me. And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit to it,” he said on a Zoom call with People magazine. During his conversation with Amabile and Pitt in the podcast, Turner further explained that his life has remained largely unchanged despite the diagnosis in the following words:
“I feel great,” he said. “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.”
Gerry Turner Has Revealed That He Is Currently In a Relationship
Image via ABC/Brian Bowen Smith
Beyond his health update, Turner disclosed in the same podcast that he was in a new relationship — insinuating that it was post The Golden Bachelor events. Turner, however, expressed his desire for privacy and thus relayed little to no information about his partner.
Despite not being a believer in love at first sight, Turner described the first time he met this new lover in wholesome words. “It was the look that she gave me. It was like all of a sudden I was consumed by this look,” he explained. Pitt was awed at his response and inquired if he had ever felt that way about any of the women on his season of The Golden Bachelor. Turner acknowledged that he had experienced something close but not entirely similar when co-star Faith Martin played the guitar on their first night in the show.
Towards the end of the podcast, Turner revealed that he had a book coming which he described as “closer to an autobiography than a tell-all.” He mentioned that the book begins with his first date with his first wife Toni Turner and constitutes mostly of his experience in The Golden Bachelor show.
The Golden Bachelor can be streamed on the official ABC app or website.
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The Golden Bachelor |
|---|---|
| Cast | Gerry Turner, Theresa Nist, Various Contestants |
| Premiere Date | September 28, 2023 |
| Stream On | ABC, Hulu |
| Hosted by | Jesse Palmer |
| Produced by | Next Entertainment, Warner Horizon Unscripted Television |
| Based On | The Bachelor franchise |
| Plot Summary | A senior spin-off of The Bachelor, following 72-year-old Gerry Turner as he searches for love later in life |
| Musical Elements | Features romantic and emotional scores typical of The Bachelor series |
| Current Status | Season 1 completed; finale aired November 30, 2023 |
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