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Ben Higgins Shares His Advice to Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner: ‘Keep Your Head on Straight’
Gerry Turner’s fairytale ending on The Golden Bachelor was overshadowed by drama after his ex-girlfriend anonymously detailed their past tumultuous relationship. Fortunately, Bachelor Nation rallied around the Iowa native, including Ben Higgins. The former Bachelor lead exclusively shares his advice to Gerry with Life & Style, saying it’s the same advice he would give any Bachelor or Bachelorette.
“My advice to them I mean, it’s hard to give somebody in their 70s advice, honestly. But my advice to them would be to keep your head on straight, like I would anybody that does this show,” Ben, 34, who’s set to face off at the 2024 HGV Tournament of Champions later this month, tells Life & Style. “And don’t let the negatives or the positives over influence you. So, stay consistent with who you’ve been and who you are. And don’t let this wild world that happens fast and that can you know spit you up and turn you around real quick and mess with you too much.”
One day before the November 2023, season finale of The Golden Bachelor, Gerry’s unidentified ex-girlfriend slammed their past relationship and exposed multiple lies told by Gerry and the network. The now-reality star and the woman allegedly dated one month after Gerry’s late wife, Toni, died in 2017, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“The idea that I’d go out with a recent widower just mortifies me,” Gerry’s ex told the publication. “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.”
The retired restaurateur, 72, addressed the woman’s claims, admitting that he was “happy to look forward” in life. “My only response is that I have so many positive things in my life right now,” he told The Los Angeles Times in December 2023. “I have the wonderful love of [Theresa Nist], my partner. I don’t have time to reflect on comments like this.”
Gerry’s wife and Golden Bachelor winner Theresa, 70, supported him throughout the drama and didn’t allow that to dim the light amid their January 4 wedding.
“It does cause some red flags for the family, what else can he lie about if he did this? Will something else come out?” a source exclusively dished to Life & Style at the time. “But he and Theresa have spoken about it and she trusts him and they have moved past it.”
Theresa’s daughter, Jen Woolston, also addressed the chatter and echoed the insider’s statement, exclusively telling Life & Style that her mom was “absolutely good with whatever they talked about.”
“I think that there’s some bit of truth to some parts of it and they are on the same page about it, and that’s kind of good enough for me,” Jen told Life & Style on December 18, 2023.
