Photo:ABC/Brian Bowen Smith
ABC/Brian Bowen Smith
The Golden Bachelor’s leading manGerry Turneris ready to put himself out there.
Speaking to PEOPLE during a set visit for the show’s first group date, the 72-year-old widower opens up about why he wants to find love again.
“You may experience the most beautiful sunset, [but] when you walk back in the house there’s no one to talk about it with,” he adds.
The Golden Bachelor was married to hishigh school sweetheart Tonifor 43 years until she suddenly died from an illness in 2017. The couple sharetwo daughters, Angie and Jenny, who are now in their 40s.
Six years after his wife’s death, the Indiana native is ready to date again — something he says he hasn’t done since “the mid-1960s.”
He explains that his daughters, along with hisgranddaughters Charlee and Payton, encouraged him to join the show.
“They just want me to be happy,” he notes of his family members. “They’ve given me a lot of support, and they laugh at some of the things that I say and do that [aren’t] quite on point with trendy culture.”
Gerry was announced as the star of ABC’s newBachelorspinoff in July. The series follows the first-ever Golden Bachelor as he dates 22 senior women — includingBacheloralumMatt James’s mother,Patty— in hopes of finding love.
“Golden Bachelor” stars Patty, Christina, Theresa, Peggy, Ellen, Susan, Faith, Leslie, Sandra, Kathy, Nancy, Maria, Edith, Pamela, Marina, Sylvia, Natasha, Joan, April, Anna, Renee, and Jeanie.ABC/Ricky Middlesworth
ABC/Ricky Middlesworth
In a preview clip that aired as part ofThe Bachelorette: Men Tell All, the reality star opened up to hostJesse Palmerabout how he hopes to “find my person,” while emphasizing that he in no way intends to replace Toni.
“What I look for at the age of 70 is different than what I look for when I was in high school and college,” he explained. “So I believe I’ll find my person, the new person that will make me whole again, and I think we’ll knit a wonderful relationship.”
“But I don’t think it’ll look like the relationship I had with Toni,” he added. “And I don’t think it would be right to do it that way.”
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The Golden Bachelorairs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
source: people.com
