‘The Golden Bachelor’: Why Gerry Turner Doesn’t Give Chatter About His Past ‘a Whole Lot of Thought’

Gerry Turner is speaking out. After The Hollywood Reporter published an article questioning parts of his background, the first-ever star of The Golden Bachelor, who got engaged to Theresa Nist on Thursday night’s season finale, addressed the situation in an interview with ET’s Denny Directo.

“I don’t give it a whole lot of thought. I’ve got to be honest, I just don’t give it a life,” Gerry told ET of chatter about his past. “I have so many positives in my life right now. Right at this very moment, look what I have that is an equal partner to me! To get bogged down in the past, I just can’t go there, nor do I want to.”

The talk of his past was no surprise to Gerry, who admitted that that he “kind of did a little bit” expect his life to be scrutinized when he signed up for The Golden Bachelor.

“Everybody is under a microscope at a certain point. Early on, people were saying, ‘Oh look, he’s drinking orange juice. He’s a recovered alcoholic.’ And, ‘Oh, they’ve subjected him to spray tans,'” Gerry said. “I knew there was going to be stuff. I was almost entertained by those things.”

As for allegations that Gerry lied about a relationship he had following his wife, Toni’s, 2017 death, a source previously told ET, “Gerry was open with the golden women in the house about his approximately year-and-a-half-long relationship with the woman.”

Now, Gerry and Theresa are focused on moving forward together, first with a televised wedding on Jan. 4, and then with a move to South Carolina.

“When you get to this age, every moment is precious and you don’t want to waste them,” Gerry told ET. “Now we’ve got a date out there that we can look forward to, rather than every day that we had to keep it secret. It’s a total different mindset.”

Theresa agreed, noting, “I was open to the experience and the opportunity to be married again, but who would’ve thought? This is amazing. This is incredible.”

Look back on Gerry Turner‘s journey for love with ET’s coverage of The Golden Bachelor.