‘Golden Bachelor’ alum Theresa Nist speaks out after Gerry Turner files for divorce: ‘Thought it was going to last forever’

Theresa Nist has no regrets about her “Golden Bachelor” marriage – even if it lasted only three months.

Amid her split from Gerry Turner, the reality star took to Instagram Monday to share an inspirational quote by Dr. Seuss that read, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

In the accompanying caption for her post, Nist, 70, shared a lengthy message in which she mused about her quickie nuptials and thanked fans for their “love, support and kindness.”

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She also called for empathy for those who have been critical of the relationship, asking them “to find it in [their] heart” to understand the process.

The financial services professional went on to call the marriage ”one of the most incredible experiences” of her life, and something she “never expected to happen” at the age of 70.

And while Nist admitted that she thought her romance with Turner was “going to last forever,” she joked, “It turns out, even at the age of 70, you don’t know everything.”

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“I ask you to please stay open to all the experiences, opportunities, and love that may come your way,” she ended the missive. “Keep smiling, keep laughing… I will. I love you all.”

Nist and Turner announced last week that they were divorcing after just three months of marriage.

“Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations, and we’ve looked closely at our situation, our living situation, so forth, and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to dissolve our marriage,” Turner, 72, told “Good Morning America” viewers.

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The two had met and fallen in love on the first season of “The Golden Bachelor,” with Turner proposing in the final episode.

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They walked down the aisle two months later in a splashy televised event. However, the marriage was off to a difficult start as Nist remained in New Jersey and Turner in Indiana.

In their “GMA” interview, Nist shared with viewers that her and Turner’s inability to agree on a place to live was a major reason for their split.

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“We looked at homes in South Carolina, we considered New Jersey and we just looked at homes after home, but we never got to the point where we made that decision,” she explained.

Turner was previously married to Toni Turner, with whom he shared two kids, for 43 years until her untimely death in 2017.

For her part, Nist shared two children with late husband William “Bill” Nist.