Leslie Fhima showed support for her ex-boyfriend Gerry Turner as he walked down the aisle to marry Theresa Nist on Thursday, January 4.
“At our age, we have to celebrate love. And I was very good friends with Theresa. We supported each other throughout the whole time in the house, and all the way through this journey,” Leslie told fellow former Golden Bachelor contestant Kathy Swarts at the wedding. “And I am so, so happy for her and Gerry. I really am. And I am here at the end of the day to support love in any way.”
Leslie, 65, announced that she was headed to Palm Springs to attend The Golden Wedding one day before the ceremony.
“Hey guys, Happy New Year. I just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for all your kind and encouraging words while I was in the hospital and then when I got home,” Leslie said in an Instagram Story post on Wednesday, January 3. “And now, I am definitely on the mend. I’m feeling so much better that now I get to go to the wedding and I can’t wait to support Gerry and Theresa in their beautiful day, and I know it’s going to be really, really amazing.”
Leslie was referring to the brief hospital stay she endured late last month — on her birthday nonetheless — following a “random” health issue.
“I know that everyone was just curious to know what I did on my 65th birthday,” Leslie revealed in an Instagram Story shared on New Year’s Eve. “I spent it in the hospital. Yes, I had a bowel blockage, severe cramping, came into the ER.”
She endured a surgery for the blockage which was “actually scar tissue from an appendectomy I had when I was 18 years old.” Ending her health update, Leslie begged fans not to “wait 12 hours” before going to the hospital like she did.
Leslie became a Bachelor Nation fan-favorite following her Golden Bachelor debut late last year. She developed a strong connection with Gerry, 72, upon their first meeting and made it to the show’s first-ever finale as one of the final two, alongside Theresa, 70.
While Leslie declared her love for Gerry, he had stronger feelings for Theresa in the end. Leslie — and viewers — were blindsided when Gerry ultimately broke her heart.
“The most important thing I fell in love with was your integrity. And because of your integrity, your words meant so much to me. I didn’t take them for granted. I took them and I put them in my heart, OK? And everybody knows what you said on camera,” she told Gerry when they came face-to-face at the After the Final Rose special. “But only you and I know it was said in [during the] overnight. And I would never share that with anyone. It’s our private time. But those words gave me 100 percent certainty that I was your girl. … And your words just meant so much to me, and that’s why I was blindsided. Because I wasn’t sure how it changed or what happened.”
Despite all the good times, Leslie did have some qualms about the end of their relationship. Gerry has since apologized for the way things ended between them.
“You made it sound like you chose me,” she said. “You led me down a path and then you took a turn and left me there.”
