Gerry Turner, the 72-year-old charismatic star of the ‘The Golden Bachelor‘, recently opened up about his love life after the loss of his wife. His wife Toni passed away about six years ago in 2017.
After grieving her loss, Turner said he decided to give his romantic life another shot and tried online dating. He spoke elaborately about his journey of loss and the consequent heartache, self-discovery, and friendships in an interview with People.
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Gerry Turner Said Grieving Is A Process That’s Different For Everyone
“I’ve dated a number of times since Toni’s passed, more recently than back closer to when she’s passed,” he said. However, he clarified that none of his dates could work out the way he expected them to. “For one reason or another, the attempts didn’t work out,” Gerry Turner said.
He said he had assumed that after a year of grieving his wife’s death, he would be ready to delve into dating again. But it was with time that he realized that grieving is a process that takes time. Turner acknowledged that it may seem different to different people, and need not have a fixed conventional timeline.
Turner also opened up about seeking help. He said after three years of trying to figure out how he should navigate the grief and get back to a normal life, he decided to reach out to a grief counselor.
“I finally decided, ‘It’s time for me to go see a grief counselor,’ because I wasn’t sure I was on track. I wasn’t sure I was mending properly. It was probably a life changer for me because I remember having two sessions with the counselor, and he goes, ‘You’re fine. You just got to give yourself credit for being OK,’” he said.
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‘The Golden Bachelor’ Is Now More Optimistic About Dating
Though he said it was “difficult” for him to navigate through these decisions, he acknowledged that it helped him become more “optimistic about dating“. He also said that he could gain several great friends after he ventured into the dating world.
“I’ve still developed one very good friendship with one woman that lives about 40 miles away in Michigan,” Turner said. “If nothing else, some of the failures were offset by that one nice success,” he added.
As ‘The Golden Bachelor’ finale approaches, Turner said he has a potential proposal to Leslie Fhima or Theresa Nist in mind. Though he did not give away a lot of details about what’s on his mind, he said he is happy with whatever he has for himself at the moment and that things have “turned out well” for him.
The Golden Bachelor’s finale will premiere on Thursday at 8 pm ET on ABC, where Turner’s journey will take a decisive turn.
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