The Golden Bachelor winner Theresa Nist has revealed that Gerry Turner and Leslie Fhima's breakup -- and how Leslie felt afterwards -- left her in tears.
ADVERTISEMENT
Theresa admitted it was difficult watching Leslie get her heart broken on The Golden Bachelor and hearing Leslie's claims about how Gerry had misled, blindsided and lied to her.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
"It's hard," Theresa recently told Katie Couric on her YouTube channel of learning about Leslie's crushing experience on The Golden Bachelor.
"I mean, I wound up in tears. It's very difficult hearing something like that."
ADVERTISEMENT
Theresa told Katie that she and Leslie got very close while filming the ABC reality dating show.
"I love Leslie. Actually, Leslie was one of my best friends in the house, and I completely understand how she feels," Theresa shared.
"She needed to say [her piece] and Gerry... had to go through the experience and give it one thousand percent to every single woman. This was his journey, and he felt the way he felt in the moment."
Theresa seemed to be referring to how Gerry had said, "I love you," to Leslie and also informed her, on-camera, that he thought she was The One for him.
Theresa insisted that both she and Gerry "have love" for Leslie as well as for Gerry's third-place finisher, Faith Martin, who was also devastated by her breakup with The Golden Bachelor star following hometown dates.
ADVERTISEMENT
"So it was difficult hearing it, but I knew beforehand what was going to be said," Theresa claimed.
"I mean, not exactly what was going to be said, but I knew beforehand -- Gerry and I had discussed his entire journey, so I was prepared for every time I viewed the show."
Gerry told Access Hollywood in a separate interview that he had told Theresa during their Fantasy Suite that he was going to pick her and propose marriage to her at the Final Rose Ceremony.
"Excitedly, I said to her, 'I love you. I love you. I love you. And I'm going to ask you to marry me! I don't know if you're going to say yes, but I am going to ask!'" Gerry told Access Hollywood.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELORETTE' COUPLES NOW: WHOM DID 'THE BACHELORETTE' STARS AND THEIR BACHELOR PICKS ULTIMATELY END UP WITH?! (PHOTOS)
ADVERTISEMENT
But according to Leslie, Gerry had made similar promises to her during their overnight, off-camera date.
In fact, when Gerry broke up with Leslie in her hotel room in Costa Rica, she accused The Golden Bachelor star of having lied to her and betrayed her.
Gerry, however, told Leslie that he had been honest about his feelings for her in the moment but then things "changed" and "evolved" and his heart ultimately led him to Theresa, to whom he got engaged on The Golden Bachelor's November 30 finale.
"I don't want to say everything that he said, but it was 100 percent certainty when I woke up the next morning that I was going to be it," Leslie told the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast after The Golden Bachelor finale aired.
Leslie explained how Gerry had given her the utmost confidence about the future of their relationship, even though he didn't mention wanting to pop the question to her.
ADVERTISEMENT
"[Did he] propose to me? Well, he made plans with me for the future. He said, kind of like, 'Save the date. This is what we're going to do. I can't wait for us -- just two more days and we'll be done with this,'" Leslie recalled.
"[Gerry said], 'We'll be together and start our life.' Did he say in there, 'Will you marry me?' No. But he all BUT said that."
The 64-year-old fitness instructor from Minneapolis, MN, vented about how she "would've been happy with" a simple, "I love you" from Gerry.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' COUPLES NOW: WHO DID 'THE BACHELOR' STARS AND THEIR BACHELORETTE PICKS ACTUALLY END UP MARRYING? (PHOTOS)
"But he took it to a different level," Leslie claimed.
"And when we woke up the next morning and he left, he turned around three times and blew me kisses. He didn't want to leave, and that's why I wasn't worried that he was going on a date! I just knew that he had to get through the motions of it."
Leslie reiterated how Gerry allegedly made it seem like she had the competition in the bag.
"I mean, he didn't say, 'I have such a hard decision to make.' Nothing like that. So I just didn't think [he'd pick Theresa]," Leslie said.
She added, "And there were things he said to me in the overnight that alluded to his [next] overnight with Theresa, that it was not going to be the same."
But Gerry determined during his final days in Costa Rica that Theresa is the "right" woman for him, and he said he realized that he couldn't live without her.
Gerry and Theresa are currently planning a January 4, 2024 wedding as well as a move to South Carolina, but he has come under fire for allegedly having -- and not being honest on the show or in the press about -- a live-in girlfriend of nearly three years prior to applying for The Golden Bachelor.
ADVERTISEMENT
Having had a three-year, live-in ex-girlfriend would contradict Gerry's heart-wrenching The Golden Bachelor storyline about being a grieving widower who essentially had no dating experience prior to the show because he was married for 43 years to Toni, who died from a bacterial infection in July 2017.
Gerry has since addressed the allegations against him, and Theresa also broke her silence on the unflattering report about Gerry's alleged secret past.
RELATED LINK: 'THE BACHELOR' FRANCHISE COUPLES NOW: WHO IS STILL TOGETHER?? (PHOTOS)
Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group!