'The Golden Bachelor': Gerry Turner Breaks Down in Tears Recounting His Wife's Sudden Death in Emotional Clip

Gerry Turner is moving forward after the difficult loss of his wife, Toni, six years ago. In a new sneak peek clip, the 72-year-old first star of The Golden Bachelor opens up about the painful death of Toni in 2017, shortly after she retired. 

Noting they had a "typical but beautiful life, full of love, full of activity," Gerry shared that he and his late wife closed on their dream property on June 6, the same day that Toni retired. 

"From June 6 on, it didn't go according to plan at all. She became ill and her situation got worse over a couple of weeks," Gerry said, choking up as he recounted the difficult period. "We went to the emergency room and she had a bacterial infection that infected her kidneys and infected her liver. I took my wife to the emergency room on July 7. She passed away on July 15."

As he moves forward, Gerry notes, "No one's ever going to replace Toni, but the love of my daughters and my granddaughters pulled me out of a dark spot."

The retired restauranteur says he's hoping to find the person he'll spend the rest of his life with. 

"Best case scenario is I find out Helen Mirren's on the market, and she's really happy to be on The Golden Bachelor," Gerry quipped. 

The new reality star recently spoke with ET's Denny Directo about how his family inspired him to sign up for the show. 

"They were the ones that motivated me to respond early on to the casting call," he told ET of his two daughters and two granddaughters. 

As for how his wife would react to him being on the show, Gerry quipped, "Being a bit of a hot head as she was, she'd say, 'Get the hell out there and get going with this.' But I think in reality, she'd be thrilled for this." 

The Golden Bachelor will premiere this fall on ABC.

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