‘Golden Bachelor’ Star Gerry Turner Reveals Cancer Diagnosis: ‘When I’m Gone, I’m Gone’

Gerry Turner wants to “clear up a lot of mystery” surrounding his divorce from Theresa Nist. The Golden Bachelor star, 72, who announced in April that he and his new bride had split just three months after their televised wedding, revealed to PEOPLE on Wednesday, Dec. 11 that a life-changing diagnosis was behind the breakup.

“As Theresa and I were trying very hard to find our lifestyle and where we were going to live and how we were going to make our life work, I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer,” said Turner, who said doctors noticed some “unusual blood markers” when he was seeking help for a shoulder injury.

The ABC leading man was ultimately diagnosed with a slow-growing bone marrow cancer called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, which according to the Mayo Clinic causes white blood cells to become cancerous and build up in the bone marrow.

“Unfortunately, there’s no cure for it. So that weighs heavily in every decision I make,” Turner said of his prognosis. “It was like 10 tons of concrete were just dropped on me. And I was a bit in denial for a while, I didn’t want to admit to it.”

Turner’s diagnosis was more of a “process, rather than an event,” taking months for doctors to determine that he had cancer rather than a “blood disorder,” although he admitted he “pretty much” knew the final diagnosis would be cancer.

In March, Turner said he told Nist that he had officially been diagnosed with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia, which he said was “hard for [him].” Nist was “a little bit awestruck” by the news herself, Turner added, which was “understandable.”

While Turner and Nist had previously been working on ways to make their long-distance marriage work, the news that Turner had cancer turned things upside down. “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 son-in-laws, my granddaughters,” he shared. “And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.”

“I’m going to pack as much fun as I possibly can into my life and enjoy every moment,” the Bachelor Nation star added. “And when I’m gone, I’m gone, but I’m not going to have regrets.” By coming forward with his diagnosis, he hopes that detractors of his brief marriage to Nist “look at things a little bit differently” and can see it “wasn’t quite a rash, fast decision that people thought.”