The ‘Golden Bachelor’ star reveals what he thinks his late wife would say about his new role

Before signing on to become the first star of “The Golden Bachelor,” Gerry Turner says he couldn’t help but wonder what his late wife would think of the move.

Earlier this week, ABC announced that Turner will be looking for love on the senior citizen version of its hit dating series “The Bachelor," debuting in the fall. Now, the 71-year-old is opening up about the exciting journey ahead in a new interview with the podcast “Bachelor Happy Hour.”

Turner and his high school sweetheart were married for 43 years when she died of an illness in 2017. When asked what she would think about his foray into reality TV dating, Turner said he's pretty sure she would be “very pleased.”

“I have a picture of her in my walk-in closet. Every night I’m in there and I see her picture. It’s the only one now that I have in the house,” he explained. “And in the mornings, I see her picture and, you know, we talk. I’ll make a brief comment or sometimes that talk is silent.”

Turner went on to reveal that he has recently talked to his wife about his decision to star on "The Golden Bachelor."

"Lately in the last couple of months my question for her is always, 'So what do you think of this? Am I doing the right thing?' And I really have strong, positive feelings about it," he said. "I think she would be very happy."

The father of two also noted that he has tried to date since he lost his late wife, but hasn't found "the one" just yet.

"I think she's probably seen me fail at a number of attempted relationships and dating, and I really think she would approve of this. It's positive, it's energetic, it's a way of communicating and finding the connection with a number of people, but specifically one special person," he said.

The new reality star ended his thought by saying he's "pretty confident" about how his late wife would feel.

Turner will likely turn to his two daughters, Angie and Jenny, and two granddaughters, Charlee and Payton, for dating advice while starring on the show.

During his podcast interview, he said his daughters and granddaughters are "over-the-top supportive of this."

"The experience of having them in Los Angeles with me a couple of weeks ago when I was doing the promotions and so forth, we'd laugh and we'd cry and it was just an amazing experience," he said.

Turner's granddaughters are social media savvy and have been sending him comments they've read after he was revealed as the first star of "The Golden Bachelor."

"They are loving it," he said.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com