‘Golden Bachelor’ Gerry Turner Goes Instagram Official With A New Ladyfriend Following The Infamous “Golden Divorce”

The Golden Bachelor‘s Gerry Turner is starting the next golden chapter of his life with a new girlfriend AND a new book coming this fall.

Per the synopsis, the 73-year-old’s upcoming memoir, Golden Years: What I’ve Learned from Love, Loss, and Reality TV, will give “a peek behind the reality TV curtain” and offer fans another in-depth look into his life.

“I am more than what people saw on reality TV, and now everyone can get a glimpse of my life and finally see the unedited story of the Golden Bachelor,” Turner told People in a statement.

As fans of The Golden Bachelor know, Turner’s family encouraged him to look for love again on the ABC reality series following the unexpected death of Toni, his high school sweetheart and wife of 43 years. He emerged from his life-changing Golden Bachelor experience engaged to Theresa Nist, whom he married on live TV. But the two shocked fans by announcing plans to divorce three months later.

“In Golden Years, Gerry chronicles his grief after Toni’s death, his unbelievable experiences on The Golden Bachelor, and the life-altering lessons he took away from both,” the memoir’s synopsis reads. “Rich with behind-the-scenes insights into filming the show and hard-won rules he lived by when putting himself back into the dating world, Golden Years tells Gerry Turner’s complete story for the first time.”

Following Turner and Nist’s divorce announcement, the Golden Bachelor lead opened up to People about his Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia diagnosis, which he described as a slow-growing “bone marrow cancer.”

Turner explained that the cancer played a role in his split with The Golden Bachelor‘s final rose recipient, saying, “As Theresa and I were trying very hard to find our lifestyle and where we were going to live and how we were going to make our life work, I was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer… I wanted my life to continue on as normal as possible, and that led me to believing that as normal as possible more meant spending time with my family, my two daughters, my two son-in-laws, my granddaughters. And the importance of finding the way with Theresa was still there, but it became less of a priority.”

Despite the decision to break off his romantic relationship with Nist to maximize family time, Turner recently revealed he started dating someone new in March, nearly a year after his June 2024 divorce.

As TMZ reported, Turner is now dating Lana Sutton, a retired teacher in her mid-50s who reached out to him on Facebook. The two have been an item for roughly “two months,” according to Turner’s Instagram.

Prior to his Instagram announcement, Turner addressed his new relationship on an April 15 episode of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, hosted by Bachelor Nation alum Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.

“I don’t wanna say too much and jinx it,” the Golden Bachelor lead admitted. “And I’m trying to respectfully get to a point where there’s an acceptable amount of time from my divorce. Maybe that’s an old-fashioned thought, you know, maybe it doesn’t matter as much as I think it does, but to be respectful, I kind of want to slow roll this.”

“I think the fun part there is, she has daughters that I really relate to, and her daughter, she relates well to my daughters. So we’ve been around each other briefly, but it’s been fun. It’s been a very enjoyable encounter,” Turner continued. And for those who are curious, yes, Turner says he told Nist about his new gal before the news went public.

On one of Turner’s recent relationship photo Instagram carousels, Bachelor franchise host Jesse Palmer commented, “So happy for you!!!!” and Sutton wrote, “I couldn’t ask for a more genuine, kind-hearted, loving gentleman! I love your heart for me. Life is a blast with you @goldengerryturner. You are the perfect partner for me.”

So how many of these post Golden Bachelor developments will be addressed in Turner’s upcoming memoir? We’ll have to read to find out. In the meantime, if you’re looking for more Golden Bachelor updates, be sure to read everything Decider knows about newly announced Golden Bachelor Season 2 lead, Mel Owens.