Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner has a secret past that includes a three-year relationship after his wife’s death and various blue-collar jobs, a new report has revealed.
The 72-year-old captured the hearts of millions when he was presented as a loving retired restaurant owner who hasn’t been on a single date since his 45-year-old wife’s sudden death from an infection in 2017.
But a new investigation by The Hollywood Reporter has found that Turner has a professional and personal history that doesn’t match the personality of a grieving man who hasn’t had a first date in 40 years.
Turner reportedly had a three-year relationship with a woman who claims she was dumped because she gained 10 pounds. The woman, whose name is Carolyn and who is 14 years Turner’s junior, said she lived with Turner at his lake house in Indiana for more than a year.
While Turner was introduced on the show as a “retired restaurateur,” his LinkedIn profile shows he hasn’t owned a restaurant since 1985, when he sold his Mr. Quick Hamburger franchise in Iowa, where he had worked his way up since high school .
Golden Bachelor star Gerry Turner has a secret past that includes a three-year relationship after his wife’s death and various blue-collar jobs
A former girlfriend of Turner’s painted a picture of him that is a far cry from the man on the ABC show who won over millions with his emotional awareness and naturalness
While Turner was introduced as a “retired restaurateur,” his LinkedIn profile shows that he has been a “Mr. Quick” hamburgers in Iowa, no longer owned a restaurant (archive photo)
Since then, he has held various sales and management positions in the meat industry, according to his resume on the website. Although the show claimed he had been retired for decades, after selling his restaurant, Turner worked installing hot tubs and as a maintenance man in Iowa.
He met Carolyn while working as a caretaker at the Vera French Mental Health Center in Davenport, but the two didn’t get together until two months after his wife’s death.
Carolyn told The Hollywood Reporter that the two began a relationship after Turner called her after the death of his wife Toni and asked for help donating some clothes to charity.
She claimed she quit her job to move in with Turner in July 2018, but things soon changed when his demands surfaced. For example, he soon told Carolyn that she would have to pay about $1,000 a month for her share of the costs, which she was able to negotiate down to $850.
The picture of Turner painted by Carolyn is a far cry from the man introduced on the show, who won over millions of people with his emotional awareness and naturalness.
Turner was reportedly so busy splitting the cost that Carolyn prepaid for her meals at restaurants so Turner could pretend to foot the entire bill in the check game.
The reality star was also reportedly obsessed with cleanliness and required Carolyn to make the bed before breakfast every morning.
The romance ended in late 2019 when, according to Carolyn, Turner said he wouldn’t take her to his high school reunion because of her weight.
The Golden Bachelor reportedly said: “I won’t take you to the reunion looking like that.”
The bang comes when “The Golden Bachelor” has to choose between the finalists in the finale on Thursday
Top two: Gerry has narrowed the field down to his final two, including Leslie Fhima, 64
Also a finalist: Theresa Nist, 70, was also one of Gerry’s final two
Turner then told Carolyn that she had to be out of the house by January 1, 2020, according to THR, which reviewed emails and text messages between the former couple and spoke to people who witnessed the relationship.
Carolyn fell down the stairs while packing and had to undergo emergency surgery. However, Turner accused her of using the fall as an excuse to extend her stay at his home and claimed she planned to sue him over it.
Turner wouldn’t even let Carolyn stay home until she ran out of two weeks’ notice on her new job in Indiana, forcing her to stay in a hotel, she claimed.
The bombshell report comes after The US Sun previously reported that Turner’s claim that he hasn’t dated since his wife’s death may not have been true.
The outlet spoke with a friend of Turner’s, Heather Lanning-Adams, who said he has dated a few women over the past six years.
The report also comes just a day before finalists Leslie, 64, and Theresa, 70, vote in Thursday’s finale of “The Golden Bachelor.”
Turner spent the night with Leslie and Theresa in the Fantasy Suites episode filmed at the Springs Resort & Spa in Costa Rica.
In the Fantasy Suite, Gerry told Leslie, a fitness trainer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, that he thought she was “the one.”
Theresa, a securities professional from Shrewsbury, New Jersey, also spent the night with Gerry in the Fantasy Suite after declaring that she loved him.
has contacted ABC for comment on this story.