Golden Bachelor’s Theresa 'Baffled' by DMs From Younger Men
Theresa Nist is shocked by some of the men who have slid into her Instagram DMs. While opening up about dating following her split from Gerry Turner, Theresa admitted that younger guys have messaged her trying to shoot their shot.
“I do get approached through Instagram direct messages, but you wouldn’t believe how young these guys are. They’re so young that they’re younger than my son,” she told People. “These young guys … I’m just baffled by it. And they’ll persist and persist and persist. I’m talking 33 year olds.”
Theresa, 71, married Gerry, 73, in January, just months after they got engaged during the finale of The Golden Bachelor. However, the two announced in April that they were divorcing and finalized the split in June. Theresa said she hasn’t dated since the divorce, but admitted that she’d be interested in someone who’s “maybe 10 years younger” than her at most.
“To me, age … it doesn’t matter up to a point,” she said. “[But] too young, we are just not culturally the same. We didn’t experience the same things growing up, the same music, the same movies. It’s hard to have a conversation. And I don’t think that anything is too old.”
She said she’s “been asked” on dates but has “said no” to the invitations. “I’m more clear on what I want 1734355031, so I don’t want to waste anyone’s time,” she added. “I definitely do want to be with someone. I do. I think life is so much better when you’re with someone, but I know that it’s even hard for young people to find people. Imagine how much harder it gets. I’m 71. That number scares people.”
When Gerry and Theresa announced their split after just three months of marriage, they cited distance as the main factor behind the breakup. Gerry is from Indiana, while Theresa lives in New Jersey, and the two admittedly could not agree on where to live. They had previously considered both relocating to South Carolina, and Gerry even started coming around to the idea of moving to New Jersey himself, but no decision was ever made.
However, in November, Theresa hinted that there was more to the story. “You really can’t know somebody in four weeks,” she said on the “Almost Famous” podcast. “I’ll say that. That’s all I can say.” She later clarified, “It’s not something I want to discuss at this point. It’s not just the location thing. That’s all I’ll say.”
On December 11, Gerry revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer after marrying Theresa. He cited his diagnosis as another split factor. “I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that led me to believing that as normal as possible more meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two sons-in-law, my granddaughter,” he told People. “And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.” He also added, “I hope that people understand in retrospect now that that had a huge bearing on my decisions and I think probably Theresa’s as well.”
However, Theresa said that the diagnosis “wasn’t a factor in the ending of the relationship” for her. “If that was something on his part, maybe, I don’t know,” she admitted. “But, no, that didn’t factor into ending the relationship. Part of it was the distance, but that wasn’t the only part. That’s really all I will say.”
She also said she was “extremely upset” when Gerry told her the news in March. “He’s a very positive person and I am too, and I know that he will do the best that he can to make this a positive experience,” Theresa revealed. “And I have every faith that is going to work out that way, that it’s going to be the type of cancer that will not affect his life and that he’ll live to be a very healthy old age.”