Teresa Nist Speaks Out on Her Relationship with Jerry Turner

Teresa Nist recently shared her perspective on her past with Jerry Turner, who is known for his role as the “golden bachelor.” In his new memoir, The Golden Age: What we learned from love, loss, and reality TV, Turner discusses their relationship, including some of the doubts he had about her.

During an appearance on the podcast Dear Shandy, Nist recounted a particularly unsettling moment when Turner made a dark joke about concealing her body. She described a walk they took together around Pretty Lake. At one point, he pointed to a nearby cabin and remarked, “After I kill you and cut you up, I’m going to hide your body there.” Nist noted that he didn’t laugh, which struck her as pretty grim. “If this is a joke he thought of, it’s pretty dark humor,” she said.

Nist suggested that perhaps there was an “underlying feeling” reflected in that comment. “I felt like there was an underlying hostility in that statement,” she shared. Even though she didn’t believe Turner would actually harm her, it resonated with her deeper feelings about their relationship.

Her comments come in the wake of Turner expressing in his memoir that he felt “trapped” before their golden wedding anniversary.

When reflecting on their situation, Nist mentioned, “It’s so sad to think that he felt so empty and trapped. I wish he would have said something and ended it.” She also remarked on the hurt he caused her, with a cautionary note: “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I pray for his soul.”

The couple had their wedding aired on a special ABC program for their golden anniversary on January 4, 2024, but surprisingly announced their divorce just a few months later, on April 12. Turner has since revealed that Nist’s diagnosis with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, a type of bone marrow cancer, and her desire to spend more time with family contributed to their separation. He is now engaged to retired teacher Lana Sutton.

Meanwhile, Turner hasn’t shied away from his feelings about Nist. He suggested that she is portraying him as the “bad guy” in the divorce. He also pointed out that her decision to reconsider quitting her job for retirement created an “impossible situation.”

When asked about his thoughts on whether Nist would read the memoir, he candidly replied, “I’m not worried. I think she should be.”