Gerry Turner’s Dating History: What We Know Pre-‘Golden Bachelor’ Finale
As Gerry Turner prepares for a future with the winner of season 1 of The Golden Bachelor, there has been some chatter about his past relationship history.
ABC announced in July that Gerry would be the first senior Bachelor, taking on the gig six years after his wife of 43 years, Toni, died in 2017. According to Gerry, he dated "a number of times" following the loss of his wife.
“More recently than back closer to when she's passed,” Gerry told People. “For one reason or another, the attempts didn't work out. I could give you a wide range of reasons, but it doesn't really matter.”
He claimed that every time "I thought I was ready [to date], I realized I wasn't."
“Somehow I got it in my head that if you grieve for a year, that at the end of the year you should be OK. It absolutely wasn't the case," Gerry said.
An anonymous woman who claimed to date Gerry pre-show told a different story to The Hollywood Reporter about the timing of his return to dating. One day before the November 30 finale, "Carolyn" told the outlet that she dated Gerry for nearly three years, with their relationship beginning within months of Toni's passing.
“The idea that I’d go out with a recent widower just mortifies me,” she told THR. “I just really didn’t see it. Until I went back and looked at my text messages, I never realized Gerry’s texts had turned hot and heavy so relatively soon.”
After reportedly moving in together during summer 2018, "Carolyn" claimed things took a turn when Gerry allegedly disinvited her from his high school reunion in November 2019. "I’m not taking you to the reunion looking like that,” she claimed he said while allegedly pointing to her body. The pair split for good in early 2020. Per Gerry's interview with People, he sought the help of a grief counselor that same year as he struggled with dating again.
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“It was a difficult time. I finally decided, ‘It's time for me to go see a grief counselor,’ because I wasn't sure I was on track. I wasn't sure I was mending properly. It was probably a life changer for me because I remember having two sessions with the counselor, and he goes, ‘You're fine. You just got to give yourself credit for being OK,’” Gerry said.
Gerry and ABC have yet to publicly comment on the THR report. While the outlet implied that fans have been led to believe that Gerry never dated after Toni died, Gerry noted back in July on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast that he's "dated a few women along the way" and even shared a kiss with his neighbor. He has since shared other dating stories in the press, telling Esquire earlier this month that he tried online dating before his reality TV career began.
"Some of it was good, some of it not so good. I had a rule that was '60 and 60.' They had to be over the age of 60 and within 60 miles," he said.
Gerry told Esquire that he was catfished when he broke his own rule.
"A woman online was very persistent that it could have been something that would work out. But she was about a 90-mile drive away. When I finally drove over one night, she came out the front door and she looked significantly different than her profile photo," he said. "I asked her about it in a cordial, organic way, and she said, 'Oh yeah, that’s my sister’s picture. She’s six years younger.' I still bought her dinner, but there wasn’t a second date."
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"Carolyn" claimed to THR that she heard Gerry say on the series that he hadn't kissed someone in six years. Us rewatched the first two episodes of The Golden Bachelor and didn't hear the remark. Gerry previously told Us that he planned not to kiss on the first night but failed.
“[My daughters and granddaughters] were worried that I was going to be that guy that was kissing everybody on the first night," he told Us in September. "And I said, ‘Nope, I’m not going to kiss anyone on the first night. You’re not going to see that. Maybe not even as we get into it.’ Well, as you’ll see, I failed on the very first night, but I don’t feel bad about it at all.”
While there have been conflicting reports on Gerry's past, his future will be revealed on Thursday, November 30, when fans see if he gives his final rose to Leslie Fhima or Theresa Nist.
