Theresa Nist Reveals Former ‘Golden Bachelor’ Gerry Turner Once Joked About Killing Her: “There Was Animosity”

Theresa Nist is sharing her side of things after her ex-husband and former Golden Bachelor Gerry Turner wrote extensively about their relationship – and his doubts about her – in his new memoir Golden Years: What I’ve Learned from Love, Loss, and Reality TV.

During an appearance on the Dear Shandy podcast that coincided with the memoir’s release date, Nist revealed that Turner once made a “dark” joke about chopping up her body and hiding it.

“I finally went to his house and we took a walk around this lake called Pretty Lake and we were coming to the end of it and he said — this is really bizarre — He said, ‘You see that shed up there?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Well, that’s where I’m going to hide your body after I kill you and chop you up,’” Nist claimed. “And he wasn’t laughing. I said, ‘Well, if this was his idea of a joke, that was pretty dark humor.’”

Nist speculated the joke may have spoken to an “underlying feeling” he had about her.

“I just felt like there was animosity in that statement that was underlying,” she said. “Like, maybe if he could have gotten rid of me somehow.”

Nist added that she didn’t believe Turner would have killed her.

“I don’t think he would have killed me. No, I don’t think that was true. It’s not true, but it just spoke to an underlying feeling about me,” she said.

Nist’s appearance comes after Turner wrote in the memoir that he felt “trapped” ahead of The Golden Wedding.

When reached for comment, Nist told Us Weekly, “It makes me very sad to think that he felt empty and trapped. I wish he had said something and just ended it. But at least now I understand why he was so hurtful to me so many times. And I will say this. Those in glass houses should not throw stones. I do wish him all the best.”

The couple married in ABC’s Golden Wedding special on Jan. 4, 2024 before later announcing just months later that they were getting a divorce on April 12.

Turner revealed he was diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a type of bone marrow cancer, which he said played a part in their divorce as he prioritized spending more time with his family. He is now engaged to retired teacher Lana Sutton.

But the former Golden Bachelor has not minced his words when it comes to how he feels about Nist.

He told Us Weekly that he believed Nist made him out to be the “villain” when they announced their divorce. He also called Nist out for changing her mind about quitting her job so they could enjoy retirement together, saying it made for an “impossible situation.”

And when asked if he was “worried” about her reading what he wrote about her in Golden Years, Turner responded, “I’m not worried; I think she should be worried.”