What a difference a year makes! At this time last year, no one knew who Theresa Nist was, as filming of The Golden Bachelor had just begun. Gerry Turner had been announced as the dating spinoff’s first lead a couple of weeks prior, and probably nobody on that cast could have predicted that over the next 365 days we'd see a televised wedding, a very public divorce and life-changing fame for many of them. Theresa — that initial season’s winner — reflected on the big milestone, saying “my life has never been the same” since meeting Gerry.
Theresa Nist opened up about the anniversary of that first night shooting The Golden Bachelor, which just happened to be her birthday. In a lengthy caption on Instagram — alongside photos of her with some of the other women — she reminisced on the night that changed her life so drastically just one year ago, writing:
Today is my birthday. I probably would not have mentioned it except for the fact that this is also the anniversary of the date that the show began filming last year. It actually began on the evening of August 3rd, which quickly turned into August 4th, and my life has never been the same. I am so grateful for the experience and for everything that happened to me. I’ve met so many wonderful people and I’ve made so many new friends, especially with the wonderful women on the show who went through this journey with me, friendships that I cherish and that I know will last the rest of our lives.
The New Jersey resident chose to focus on the friends she met at Bachelor Mansion a year ago, rather than recall meeting her now-ex-husband, and in fact, she didn’t mention Gerry Turner at all in the post. It’s kind of crazy to think that with her birthday falling on that first night — or morning, rather — of filming, Theresa Nist did not celebrate a birthday in the entirety of her relationship with Gerry.
The Golden Bachelor’s finale aired on November 30, 2023, revealing that Gerry Turner had proposed to Theresa Nist, and it was then that we learned they would say “I do” just over a month later on January 4 on The Golden Wedding special. However, following the live and unhinged ABC event, their living arrangements sparked rumors about their marriage, as Gerry and Theresa continued to live in separate states months after becoming husband and wife.
It was only three months after the wedding that Theresa Nist and Gerry Turner held hands on Good Morning America to announce they were getting divorced. Despite the outcome, Theresa doesn’t seem to regret the journey, as she continued in her Instagram post:
I’ve learned so much about myself and I’ve grown in so many ways. I truly believe that everything that happens to us in life happens for a reason and that you learn and grow from every experience and that it’s ultimately all good. I feel so blessed to have gone through it all. It was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.
It obviously hasn’t been an easy year for Theresa Nist, as she’s dealt with "trashy" paparazzi photos and speculation about what went wrong with Gerry Turner. I’m just glad she’s able to focus on the positive a year later and all of the new friends who have come into her life.
Hopefully one of those women — Joan Vassos, specifically — will find a longer-lasting relationship when the first season of The Golden Bachelorette kicks off at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday, September 18, on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.
