No matter how old you are, there's one thing that can get complicated: the world of dating. In an interview with People Published on November 29, "Bachelor" star Gerry Turner opened up about his dating "failures" following the death of his wife Toni in 2017 and before becoming the first-ever "Bachelor."
"I've been on a lot of dates since Toni passed away, and the most recent date was closer than the one before she died," he told People . "For some reason, these attempts didn't work out. I could give you all kinds of reasons, but it doesn't matter."
Turner explained that he initially thought he would be ready to date again a year after Tony's death, but that wasn't the case. "Every time I think I'm ready, I realize I'm not," he said.
It wasn't until he saw a grief counselor that he became more optimistic. "It was probably life-changing for me because I remember having two meetings with the counselor and he said, 'You're okay. You just have to trust that you're okay,'" he recalled.
turner's dating history
Just hours before Turner's comments came out, The Hollywood Reporter published a report claiming that he dated far more after his wife's death than Bachelorette viewers might have led them to believe. An anonymous woman, whom the outlet calls Caroline, claims to have been in a three-year relationship with Turner and even lived together for nearly two years.
The outlet confirmed Caroline's story with friends and relatives, some of whom also spoke publicly. “When Caroline and Gerry first started dating [in September 2017], my husband and I took them to an Iowa [Hawkeyes] football game,” close friend Susan McCreary said. "I thought, 'This guy is legit. This guy was such a good guy for her."
However, she took particular issue with Turner's claim on the show that he hadn't been kissed in nearly six years, which was also how long it had been since his wife's death. "I thought, what ?" she recalled. "He had to know people were paying attention to the show. I was just stunned."
While Turner's comments weren't a direct response to The Hollywood Reporter , Turner admitted in an interview with People that he's had a few dating mishaps. At one point, he even gave up the idea of not falling in love again.
“One failure led to another for a variety of reasons,” he tells People . "It actually took three and a half or four years for me to finally realize, 'Okay, I'm happy with myself. If I'm left alone, I can handle it."
Although Turner's first date attempt was unsuccessful, he has no regrets as he made a valuable new friend who lives nearby. "We realized the romantic side of the relationship wasn't going to work, but we seemed to maintain a good friendship, so I feel good about that," he said.
“If nothing else, this success offsets some of the failures.”
