Golden Bachelor’s Theresa Nist Says She’s ‘Grown in So Many Ways’ on 71st Birthday

Theresa Nist is looking back on how her life has changed since appearing on The Golden Bachelor.

On Sunday, Aug. 4, the former reality star reflected on the past year of her life with a celebratory post shared on Instagram on her 71st birthday.

“Today is my birthday,” she wrote alongside a carousel of images of her posing with The Golden Bachelor ladies. “I probably would not have mentioned it except for the fact that this is also the anniversary of the date that the show began filming last year.”

Since appearing on the hit dating show, Nist revealed that her “life has never been the same” and feels “grateful for the experience and for everything that happened to me.”

“I’ve met so many wonderful people and I’ve made so many new friends, especially with the wonderful women on the show who went through this journey with me, friendships that I cherish and that I know will last the rest of our lives,” she continued. “I’ve learned so much about myself and I’ve grown in so many ways.”

The New Jersey native went on to explain that “everything that happens to us in life happens for a reason” and she’s learned and grown from “every experience and that it’s ultimately all good.”

“I feel so blessed to have gone through it all. It was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life,” she added before thanking her fans for their sweet messages and “beautiful notes.”

On the inaugural season of The Golden Bachelor, Nist found love with Gerry Turner and fans later saw them tie the knot in a televised ceremony on Jan. 4, 2024. During their short engagement, Turner, 74, and Nist, 70, merged their families and gushed about their exciting future.

Three months after their wedding, the reality stars announced in a joint interview that aired on Good Morning America that they were divorcing, calling their split a mutual decision.

“Theresa and I have had a number of heart-to-heart conversations, and we’ve looked closely at our situation, our living situation and so forth, and we’ve kind of come to the conclusion mutually that it’s probably time for us to dissolve our marriage,” Turner said in the interview.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Meanwhile, Nist added, “We have received so much love and support from so many people who watch the Golden Bachelor and I don’t think we can tell you how many people told us it gave them so much hope.” 

When asked what caused their split, they both pointed to long distance. He lives at his lake house in Indiana while she is based out of New Jersey. Though they had previously expressed plans to move to South Carolina, Nist noted that never panned out. “We looked at home after home, but we never got to the point where we made that decision,” she said.