The Golden Bachelor runner-up Leslie Fhima is set to attend Gerry Turner and Theresa Nist's live televised wedding on ABC.

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Although Gerry had devastated Leslie when he eliminated her in second place on The Golden Bachelor, she will be putting on a good face at Gerry and Theresa's January 4 wedding to support her friends.

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"Hey guys, Happy New Year. I just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for all your kind and encouraging words while I was in the hospital and then when I got home. And now, I am definitely on the mend," Leslie, 65, shared in her Instagram Stories on Wednesday, January 3, referring to how she had been hospitalized in late December for "severe stomach issues" and underwent surgery for a bowel blockage.

Leslie insisted she's "feeling so much better" and will be healthy enough to make an appearance at The Golden Wedding, which will air as a two-hour special on Thursday, January 4 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.

"I can't wait to support Gerry and Theresa [on] their beautiful day, and I know it's going to be really, really amazing. Bye," Leslie concluded.

Leslie will be among Gerry and Theresa's 150 guests as well as one of many Bachelor Nation alums to attend Gerry and Theresa's nuptials.

Kaitlyn Bristowe will be attending the wedding as well as Trista Rehn, Ryan Sutter, Jason Mesnick, Molly Malaney, Desiree Hartsock, Chris Siegfried, Ben Higgins, and Wells Adams, according to Us Weekly.

The Golden Bachelor alum Susan Noles also signed on to officiate the wedding ceremony in California.

Gerry and Theresa got engaged on The Golden Bachelor finale, which aired in late November.

The pair then spent Christmas apart, but they were able to reunite for New Year's Eve and watch the ball drop in New York City.

Following their wedding, Theresa and Gerry are considering a move to South Carolina.

Leslie, meanwhile, has spent time mending her broken heart after her The Golden Bachelor stint.

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Leslie talked about potentially getting back into the dating scene during a late December appearance on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast, which is co-hosted by Bachelor in Paradise couple Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.

"I have not thought about [dating again]. It hasn't worked out in the past. I don't know if it's the town I live in, I don't know what it is," shared the 65-year-old fitness instructor from Minneapolis, MN.

"I'm really focused on my work and my kids and my grandkids, so sometimes, if I go on a date, I'm sitting there thinking, 'I'd rather be with my kids... and my grandkids.' I have to maybe get out of that mode."

Leslie said that's why signing up for The Golden Bachelor was "good" for her. After all, her phone was taken away and she wasn't allowed to communicate with her loved ones at home during filming.

"I got to focus on Gerry," Leslie acknowledged.

Since Leslie was crushed and devastated on national television, she admitted it's "a really good question" of whether she can be open and vulnerable again with a man.

As for what she's looking for in her future boyfriend or husband, Leslie insisted she's never going to settle.

"I'm not going to lower my standards, but I'm also not going to be so picky," Leslie said.

"I snowboard, I surf, I do all these things. I don't need to find someone who does all those things with me. I love Broadway shows, but I don't need someone to go to Broadway shows with me because I have my girlfriends."

Leslie therefore concluded that she just wants to find a good man with whom to spend her time.

"I just really want, at this stage of my life... I really just want someone to grow old with and that keeps active and can do things with me," Leslie explained.

"But [I just want] to be still together, and... I want someone that makes me laugh and that loves life and someone that has a family, where we can mesh our families together and they really click, and that loves dogs. That's really all I want; I want a companion."

On The Golden Bachelor, Leslie claimed Gerry had totally convinced her in the Fantasy Suite that she was The One for him and they were going to spend the rest of their lives together.

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And so when Gerry eliminated Leslie in her hotel room in Costa Rica, she bawled her eyes out and lashed out at Gerry for having misled, lied to, and broken her heart.

During the live The Golden Bachelor: After the Final Rose special that aired in late November, Leslie wanted to know why Gerry had ultimately picked Theresa Nist over her, but Gerry could only say that Theresa is "right" for him and a better fit for his life.

Leslie therefore questioned Gerry's integrity and declined to accept his apology.

Leslie admitted on the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast that while she didn't get the closure she needed from Gerry on After the Final Rose, she was able to close that chapter and look forward to better times.

"He said something about choosing Theresa over me, and I thought that was a little harsh," Leslie noted.

Leslie pointed out how Gerry could've been more empathetic or compassionate in his delivery when explaining how his heart suddenly led him toward Theresa in Costa Rica.

"He could've said that a little bit nicer," Leslie acknowledged, "especially because being chosen is my [insecurity]. But I don't know."

"I know what I signed up for and I know that someone has to go," she added, "I just didn't expect it to be so hard."

But Leslie insisted that she has no regrets from her experience on the show.

"The only thing I would've like to... or I should have said is, 'I THOUGHT you were a man of integrity,' instead of, 'You are a man of integrity,'" Leslie shared on Joe and Serena's podcast.

She continued, "Because at the end of the day, he didn't really have the integrity that I thought he had."

When asked if she respects Gerry now that their relationship is over and done with, Leslie replied, "I mean, Gerry did what he did, it's his journey. Do I respect him? I just wish he would've done it different."

Leslie admitted of their brutal breakup, "I don't respect what he did."

Leslie said she "started" losing respect for Gerry due to the way he hurt his third-place finisher Faith Martin and then it got "a little more" worse for herself considering everything she had to go through in Costa Rica.

"So I feel like he just used, 'I love you,' too much," Leslie said, before adding, "I want to say I do [respect him], but it's hard. Yeah, he hurt me."

Theresa even said on Live with Kelly and Mark that she cried her eyes out watching Leslie get crushed on The Golden Bachelor.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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