Golden Bachelor’s Leslie Fhima Supports Theresa Nist After Gerry Split: ‘Beautiful Inside and Out’
The Golden Bachelor runner-up Leslie Fhima publicly showered Theresa Nist with love days after her former costar announced her separation from Gerry Turner.
Theresa, 70, referenced her divorce with a Dr. Seuss quote via Instagram on Monday, April 15, that read, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
“I love you my friend. I’m so happy to call you that … you’re beautiful inside and out,” Leslie, 65, wrote in the comment section of the post.
Theresa also gushed over her pal in response to a critic who “hoped” that she “stopped being friends with Leslie.”
“I love Leslie. We are friends for life,” the Golden Bachelor winner replied.
Leslie and Theresa met while competing for Gerry’s final rose during season 1 of The Golden Bachelor. When the ABC spinoff show premiered in September 2023, fans fell in love with both women – and so did the first senior-citizen Bachelor Nation lead. Leslie and Theresa wound up being Gerry’s top two, but Theresa ended up with the Neil Lane engagement ring during the finale.
Following her oncamera split, Leslie admitted that she was “blindsided” by the restaurateur’s decision. Nonetheless, she still supported Theresa through her heartbreak and even attended the couple’s televised wedding in December 2023.
“It was a little uncomfortable during the ceremony when they were talking about Costa Rica, because I was there too,” Leslie said during a January episode of the “Almost Famous” podcast of their fantasy suites trip. “It was probably the only time it was really uncomfortable for me. And seeing Theresa so happy really, kind of, just took that away anyhow.”
It came as a shock when Theresa joined Leslie as one of Gerry’s exes after the pair announced they were getting a divorce three months after walking down the aisle.
“We’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to dissolve our marriage,” Gerry, 72, said alongside Theresa during a joint sit-down interview on Good Morning America on April 12.
Theresa, for her part, addressed the elephant in the room and revealed that their decision to separate had nothing to do with Gerry’s scandal with his ex-girlfriend.
“Gerry had already discussed that with me,” she said. “He had explained it to me before that report was ever released. We were good with that. That didn’t play into it.”
Shortly after their announcement, a source exclusively told Life & Style that Gerry “wanted out” of marriage No. 2. He was previously married to his late wife, Toni, who died in 2017.
“Gerry and Theresa are giving up on their marriage, but they both weren’t on the same page as they’d like you to believe,” the source dished. “Yes, families and distance played a part, but Theresa really loved Gerry. She wanted to work at it more than him.”
