The Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner allegedly hid a three-year, live-in relationship with a girlfriend he began dating shortly after his wife Toni's sudden death from his backstory on the show.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gerry, a 72-year-old retired restaurateur who currently resides in Indiana, has won over hearts all over the world with his emotional story about how he hoped to find love for the second time in his life after grieving the loss of his beloved wife of 43 years, Toni, who died unexpectedly from a bacterial infection in July 2017.
"I mean, I haven't dated in 45 years," the charming father and grandfather told Entertainment Tonight in early August, before The Golden Bachelor premiered in September on ABC.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
But a woman claiming to be one of Gerry's ex-girlfriends has come forward and told The Hollywood Reporter that she began dating Gerry only a month after Toni passed away and that their live-in romantic relationship lasted for about three years.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gerry has made no mention of the alleged serious post-marriage relationship in any of his The Golden Bachelor footage or interviews promoting the show.
Instead, The Golden Bachelor season has repeatedly shown Gerry engaging in conversations in which he has stated he hasn't been in love with anyone since his wife and also claimed no one had even told him they were falling in love with him since Toni had done so.
Gerry's alleged ex-girlfriend -- whom The Hollywood Reporter gave a "Carolyn" pseudonym because she wanted to preserve her anonymity -- has therefore suggested that Gerry's heart-wrenching backstory and perfect-man image are misleading and borderline fraudulent.
Carolyn even recalled moments with Gerry that paint him as a shallow, cheap and somewhat inconsiderate man.
Carolyn -- who is reportedly attractive and 14 years Gerry's junior -- became friends with Gerry when they worked together at a mental health center in Davenport, IA, where Gerry lived prior to moving into his "dream" lake house with Toni in Indiana.
ADVERTISEMENT
Although Gerry has been shown claiming he retired at age 55 numerous times during his The Golden Bachelor season, he reportedly continued working odd jobs in the years after that, one of which was maintenance at the Vera French Mental Health Center in Davenport, where Carolyn also held down a job as a staff accountant.
Carolyn and the rest of the staff reportedly adored Gerry and threw him a retirement party when he left Iowa to move to Big Long Lake in Hudson, IN, in June 2017.
And then Toni passed away just one month after she and Gerry had closed on their dream retirement lake house.
After Toni died, Gerry allegedly proceeded to date Carolyn for 10 months as they lived separately, before she then moved into the Indiana lake house that had been Toni's dream retirement home and lived with him for an additional one year and nine months.
Carolyn shared with The Hollywood Reporter of the beginning of her alleged romance with Gerry, "[After the retirement party], we get the shocking news that Toni passed away, so most everyone at the office went to the visitation in July."
ADVERTISEMENT
"Then, in August, I got a phone call from Gerry," she said. "I was so shocked to hear from him."
During that phone call, Gerry allegedly said that he was going to be traveling to Davenport to work on his wife's estate, and he asked Carolyn if she'd be willing to help him donate Toni's corporate wardrobe to the Dress for Success program.
Carolyn said she didn't hesitate to offer Gerry her assistance and so he took her out to dinner as a thank you for the favor.
"The idea that I'd go out with a recent widower just mortifies me," Carolyn admitted.
"I just really didn't see it. Until I went back and looked at my text messages, I never realized Gerry's texts had turned hot and heavy so relatively soon."
ADVERTISEMENT
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
Gerry allegedly texted Carolyn in a joking manner, "I got LUCKY when you first said you would go to dinner with me two weeks ago. I mean how often does an old geezer get the beautiful girl?"
Not long afterwards, Gerry reportedly texted her, "You are the right woman for me. No need to look further."
Gerry allegedly also asked Carolyn to move in with him at his lake house, persistently, but she repeatedly declined. Carolyn said she only came around to the idea of living with Gerry about a year into their relationship.
In the meantime, Carolyn claimed she would drive five hours from Iowa to Indiana to spend weekends at Gerry's dream house on the lake. She recalled those weekends being blissful, and Gerry even allegedly promised her elderly mother that he'd marry her someday.
Carolyn therefore agreed to move in with Gerry in Summer 2018, and she told The Hollywood Reporter that Gerry had asked her to quit her job and find a new one near his house.
Carolyn acknowledged that finding a new gig was a difficult task given Gerry's lake house is "in the middle of nowhere," but she eventually found an accounting job with a company in Fort Wayne, which resulted in her commuting about an hour to work each way.
Carolyn said she officially moved into Gerry's house in late July 2018, and The Hollywood Reporter obtained mail as well as a background check to confirm that Gerry's house was her primary residence at that time.
Soon after Carolyn and Gerry allegedly began living together, Carolyn suggested that Gerry changed.
Gerry allegedly asked Carolyn for $1,000 a month to cover household expenses and they eventually agreed on $850. Carolyn also claimed that Gerry had asked her to split the cost all of their meals, except on special occasions.
When they went to a restaurant together for a regular outing, Carolyn said she would pay her half to Gerry in advance and then Gerry would pick up the check, giving their server the impression that he was generous and chivalrous.
ADVERTISEMENT
Carolyn also recalled Gerry demanding cleanliness in his home, alleging that he'd require her to make their bed every morning before joining him upstairs for breakfast.
Carolyn and Gerry's relationship reportedly came crashing down when Carolyn was preparing for Gerry's high school reunion, which was scheduled to take place in October 2019.
"I'm not taking you to the reunion looking like that," Carolyn claimed Gerry had said to her while pointing to her body.
Carolyn admitted she had put on 10 pounds -- from stress, she said -- but she insisted she wasn't overweight.
The altercation reportedly resulted in the couple's breakup, and then Gerry allegedly told Carolyn to be out of his house by January 1, 2020.
Carolyn said that Gerry had paid for her U-Haul but she spent an entire day packing up her belongings alone.
Carolyn claimed she was so frazzled and upset that she fell down the stairs and ended up at the emergency room. Carolyn had to undergo surgery on her foot the very next day, as confirmed by a hospital bill obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
When Gerry arrived home that night, according to Carolyn, he accused her of using the fall as an excuse to prolong her stay at his lake house and also expressed concern that she was going to sue him for causing the injury.
Gerry allegedly still kicked Carolyn out of his house and made her stay at a hotel while she continued working at her job to complete her final week or two weeks' notice under contract.
Carolyn told The Hollywood Reporter that she struggled to walk to her car using her walker, and then Gerry let her go by saying, "I really wish this would've worked out. Call me when you get to your hotel, so I know you made it safe."
Carolyn had apparently confided in friends and family about the rise and fall of her relationship with Gerry, and some of those loves ones corroborated Carolyn's story to The Hollywood Reporter.
ADVERTISEMENT
Based on Gerry's casting timeline for The Golden Bachelor, he must have applied for the show right after his breakup with Carolyn.
Producers had called Gerry in February 2023 to inform him that he'd been chosen to star on The Golden Bachelor, according to Entertainment Weekly.
While Gerry was initially hesitant to accept the role after years of not hearing from producers due to COVID-19, he was ultimately convinced to be the spinoff's leading man.
Carolyn explained that she initially didn't want to expose Gerry and their tumultuous relationship out of fear she'd become national news and face scrutiny, but as Gerry became an increasingly beloved and admired figure on reality TV, she didn't want to feel like the "invisible woman" in his past either.
Carolyn therefore decided to tell her truth, and The Hollywood Reporter published its article only one day before The Golden Bachelor's finale is set to air on Thursday, November 30 at 8PM ET/PT on ABC.
"I just can't believe this has happened to my girlfriend," Susan McCreary, a close friend of Carolyn's, told The Hollywood Reporter.
ADVERTISEMENT
"When Carolyn and Gerry first started dating, my husband and I took them to an Iowa [Hawkeyes] football game [in September 2017]," Susan said. "I thought, 'This guy's legit. This guy's a really good guy for her.'"
Carolyn said she's been particularly bothered by the "lines" Gerry has used on The Golden Bachelor to seemingly seduce some of his bachelorettes.
Gerry told Leslie Fhima -- one of his Final 2 bachelorettes alongside Theresa Nist -- during their Fantasy Suite in Costa Rica, "I have to have you with my morning coffee, I have to have you when I go to bed at night..."
And according to a text message The Hollywood Reporter viewed from Gerry to Carolyn, he wrote to her the following on September 2, 2017: "Damn, I go to bed at night thinking of you and wake up in the morning thinking of you."
Gerry also reportedly had other relationships after Toni's death.
According to one of Gerry's friends, Heather Lanning-Adams, a former waitress at The Shady Nook bar and restaurant which is one of Gerry's favorite hangout spots, Gerry "dated a couple of women" in the past six years.
ADVERTISEMENT
"They weren't all long-term, but they... weren't short-term either... He was with a couple of women for a decent amount of time, but it just didn't work out," Heather previously told The Sun.
ABC and Gerry reportedly declined comment when contacted about his pre-show dating history.
Once Gerry's "not-so-golden past" made headlines on Wednesday, People also published an article with what appear to be previously unpublished quotes Gerry gave about his relationship history during an earlier interview with the magazine.
"I've dated a number of times since Toni's passed, more recently than back closer to when she's passed," Gerry previously told People. "For one reason or another, the attempts didn't work out. I could give you a wide range of reasons, but it doesn't really matter."
Gerry had said he thought he'd be ready for a new relationship after one year of mourning the death of his high school sweetheart -- and he tried dating at that point -- but he was wrong.
"Every time I thought I was ready, I realized I wasn't," Gerry admitted. "Somehow I got it in my head that if you grieve for a year, that at the end of the year you should be okay. It absolutely wasn't the case."
ADVERTISEMENT
About three years after Toni's death, Gerry said he sought a grief counselor for help and guidance because it was "a difficult time."
"I finally decided, 'It's time for me to go see a grief counselor,' because I wasn't sure I was on track," Gerry shared.
"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 okay.'"
Gerry had claimed the therapy made him optimistic about dating again, although his renewed sense of confidence and positivity didn't lead to any lasting relationships.
"I've still developed one very good friendship with one woman that lives about 40 miles away in Michigan," Gerry shared.
"We realized that the romantic side of the relationship just wasn't going to work, but we've seemed to maintain a nice friendship, so I feel good about that. If nothing else, some of the failures were offset by that one nice success."
ADVERTISEMENT
Gerry had said that after putting himself out there again, he found himself discouraged about finding love again.
"One failure led to another for a variety of reasons," Gerry said. "It was actually about three and a half or four years, I just finally realized that, 'Okay, I'm happy with myself. If I am going to be alone, I can deal with it.'"
Gerry will be shown handing out his final rose and meeting with host Jesse Palmer live on After the Final Rose during Thursday night's The Golden Bachelor finale.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Click here to read spoilers about the ending of Gerry's season and to find out whether he chose Theresa or Leslie.
Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!