Originally published on 11/4/25

Gerry Turner made history in 2023 by becoming the star of the first ever Golden Bachelor—the reality dating show featuring 74-year-old Turner looking for love among several women over age 50. And while it may have seemed like he got his happy ending, that couldn’t be further from the truth. In his new memoir Golden Years: What I’ve Learned from Love, Loss, and Reality TV—out today—Turner shares what really happened after he left the reality TV world, from his cancer journey to his marriage and subsequent divorce from Golden Bachelor winner Theresa Nist. He recently sat down with Woman’s World to discuss all of this and more. Read on for the details! 

Gerry Turner on why he decided to write a book 

Golden Years: What I’ve Learned from Love, Loss, and Reality TV is Turner’s first book, but he says he’s always wanted to write a book.

“When I came out of the show I had pages and pages of notes from a diary I kept. And so I transcribed those notes and polished them up a bit. And when the talent agency brought the idea of a book to me I agreed,” the 74-year-old continues. “The nicest part of the process was working with Rebecca Paley, who was the collaborative writer. She would just rearrange my words in a way that made a lot more sense.” 

Even with all those words, Turner said his book could be summed up in one paragraph. 

“If I were to write one paragraph rather than a book, it would begin by saying, ‘remember who you are and remember how to stay true to that, and regardless of what external forces are exerted on you, always go back to your baseline every day and make your decisions based on the values you’ve always had.’” 

Gerry Turner looks back on his time in ‘Bachelor Nation’ 

Throughout the Golden Bachelor season, Turner dated several women, before eventually falling in love with Nist. The couple got married, but divorced after less than a year. 

“We don’t stay in touch. And I think that’s normal,” he says. “We’re a bit older, we don’t have children, we don’t have any assets. So it’s probably best that we went our separate ways. She texted me about a month ago, wanting to know what was in the book, but I have restraints. I can’t just say what’s in the book. So I had to not answer that text.” 

Turner has no regrets going on TV, but he wants people to know that even though his story was highly publicized, falling in love in such a short amount of time is an unusual experience that’s difficult to understand from the outside.

“The lessons I learned are pretty significant: Don’t get caught up in the moment with someone. It’s important to look for all the red flags that are there and learn to know someone really well, and then open up your heart,” Turner says. “Unless you’ve actually been in that environment it’s really hard to describe.” 

Turner admits he has watched the new season of The Golden Bachelor with Mel Owens, saying, “I’m wanting to see how he handles some of the situations that I wish I would have handled better.” 

“At first I didn’t think I would be entertained by Mel, mostly because I knew what was going on. I knew what was in the background. I knew how things were being done. But as the season’s gone on I’m becoming more and more involved and more and more empathetic to him and where he’s at,” he continues. 

What about  Bachelor in Paradise? “Because of my connection and some of my favorite people were on there, so I was drawn to it for that reason, but I didn’t watch it closely.” 

Gerry Turner opens up about his cancer journey 

After his time on the Golden Bachelor, Turner was diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a type of nonHodgkin’s lymphoma that occurs in bone marrow. He’s healthy now, but he getting there wasn’t easy. 

“Hearing the word cancer is a real gut punch. It’s a very slow-growing cancer, and I’d like to think that I’m going to outlive it and die of other causes, because until I have symptoms there is no treatment,” Turner says. “One of those symptoms is extreme fatigue. So if I keep playing the same amount of pickleball, the same intensity, the same number of hours each week and I feel the same as I have for the past several years, I look at that as a huge positive.” 

Gerry Turner talks about finding love at 74

Despite the tragic loss of his first wife, and the divorce from Nist, Turner has found love again with Lana Sutton, and the couple got engaged in October after less than eight months of dating. 

“She’s a super great partner and keeps me on track,” Turner says. “She was a tennis player and now plays pickleball with me. We also travel and even took a bike trip to Michigan this year with our pickleball friends.” 

Sutton has read his memoir, says Turner. “I thought it would be unfair to invest in a relationship and then drop that on her. I wanted her to know early on where things were, and it was quite an interesting reaction.”

“She read it. There were a couple of days of silence. And finally, we got together and said, ‘Okay, what do you think?’ And she goes, ‘I had to process a little bit. I had to understand that this was your history, not where you are today,’” he continues. “She was so gracious about it. She’s rereading it now, and the questions are a little bit more about detail, and some of it is humorous and so forth. So I thought that was a real critical turning point that she was accepting of that.” 

You can pick up your copy of Golden Years: What I’ve Learned from Love, Loss, and Reality TV wherever books are sold now.

Link to original: https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/books/golden-bachelor-gerry-turner-on-cancer-battle-engagement-excl