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Madonna's Trainer Fights Back
And then there are the lawsuits in Indiana—which were the recent subject of a lengthy profile in Indianapolis Monthly. According to the story, in 2005, Anderson hired an engineer named Glynn Barber, who designed a customized, Pilates-like machine for her to use at her gym in Fishers, a suburb of Indianapolis. The machines were expensive to produce (about $13,000 each) and Anderson had trouble paying for them, according to Barber. But they became romantically involved, and he invested more and more in her business. Anderson, meanwhile, signed up rich locals and got many to pay thousands of dollars upfront for future sessions with the trainer. Among those who joined were Indiana first lady Cheri Daniels and Nancy George (sister of Tony George, founder of the Indy Racing League). Yet when her career took off with Paltrow and Madonna, the visits home were less frequent, according to sources there.
By early 2007, equipment began to disappear from the gym in Indianapolis, former employees tell The Daily Beast. Barber claims that the studio back home wasn't making enough money to bankroll building new machines for her celebrity clientele, so Anderson slowly began moving the old ones out, telling customers the studio was simply undergoing maintenance.
Adds Tommy Robbins, a new manager at the Indiana studio who’d known Anderson for years when he was hired: “She was rarely there. When she was, you could very much tell she was aware of the attention she had gotten and fed off that. She wanted people to think she was a celebrity herself.”
“I heard that she told people I locked her in a broom closet and turned her into a sex slave,” her ex-boyfriend Glynn Barber says, laughing. “It’s all very Jerry Springer.”
The attitude didn’t play well at home. “Kind of high and mighty,” is how another employee recalls Anderson’s demeanor at the time. “You could tell she wasn’t going to deal with us little people from Indiana anymore.”
On any level. “Every other day the Hamilton County Sherriff’s department would stop by with subpoenas and they would sit on her desk,” adds the former employee. “She wouldn’t even open them!” In 2006, Anderson was jailed for failing to pay a $250 chimney sweep bill—she paid the bill and was released the same day—despite the fact the she was driving around town in a Mercedes SUV. “She had hair extensions and really nice things,” the employee recalls. “She put on a good persona.”
Around this time, the relationship between Anderson and Barber deteriorated. He has since entered into bankruptcy proceedings that he blames on Anderson. There’s been talk within Anderson’s camp that Barber was abusive with her. He’s aware of the rumor. “I heard that she told people I locked her in a broom closet and turned her into a sex slave,” he says, laughing. “It’s all very Jerry Springer.” (A lawyer for Anderson said Tuesday, “The fact is that Glynn is bankrupt and is only making his outlandish comments in an attempt to extort money from Tracy. Tracy is pursuing all of her legal remedies against Glynn including filing a stalking complaint.”)
“Say what you will about Tracy Anderson as a businesswoman,” admits one of her big competitors in the fitness industry, “Gwyneth has never looked better.”
Back home, people are skeptical of Anderson’s version of the relationship, however. “Every indication I saw from Glynn was that he was a great guy who did everything he could to straighten the business out,” says Robbins. Adds the other former employee at the gym in Indiana: “He was never abusive when I was around. I never saw him fly off the handle about anything. In fact, it was just the opposite. It was she that flew off the handle and he would remain completely calm. There are lots of things she said, and I don’t know if I believe any of them. He was madly in love with her.”
In mid-2007, the Indiana facility shut down and several of her former clients sued Anderson to have funds recovered. There was no advance warning of the impending close, say sources there. People simply arrived for a weekend dance aerobics class and walked into a completely empty studio. Eventually, after much litigation in Indiana against Anderson, the bulk of the money was paid back to clients, though not all of it, sources say.
On her Web site, the trainer acknowledges having had some “bummer times,” and admits to being jailed. She mostly avoids taking responsibility for much of what happened with the studio, however, saying it was largely the result of placing “misguided trust” in “someone else” whom she “allowed to take control of every aspect of [her] life.” She doesn’t mention that it was the third business in Indiana to go belly up or that she’d been sued before for unpaid bills.
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Great article! 1000 calories and two and a half hour workouts a day - no wonder Madonna looks the way she does.
this is a horrible story. shouldn't the writer have tried to contact this woman?
the headline says she's fighting back? there is no such angle in this whole story.
this is an attack piece. i wouldn't be surprised if she sues DB for libel.
and i don't know this woman at all--all i know is journalism, and this isn't it.
I wonder these womens bodies look like when they stop these extreme workouts.
Look, the woman's a personal trainer. The people she trains either look great or they don't. Who cares about her qualifications? Having Pilates certification is like having the stewardess give my 5-year old a pair of United Junior Pilot wings.
And yes, she's a lousy businesswoman. But everyone knows that with yoga studios and health clubs, you always pay as you go. Never front managers money (in the form of payin gin advance for a year's membership) because they're surprisingly likely to run the place into the ground long before your year is up. And anyone who becomes an investor deserves to lose his money. Consider it a tax on your stupidity.
As for getting dumped by Madonna -- isn't that also inevitable? Does she sooner or later dump everyone in her life. Anderson has a right to be disappointed. But not surprised.
If she's good at getting celebs to look their best, she'll have no problem finding new customers. And it sounds like that's the one thing she does well.
Just for the record, Pilates certification from a PMA approved program might not be medical school, but it requires a substantial cost, lots of hard work and more than 800 hours of observation, teaching and apprenticeship, a written exam and finally a practical exam where you teach a new client in front of a panel. Much easier to just say you have it than actually get it.
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now the media will shred her to pieces. All persons with big ego,get tired of each other.
Who cares about Madonna, let alone her employees?
great reporting!
Especially in the world economy and all the problems we have to face,these people have nothing to offer,and to admire.It use to be interesting, now its like all of them are aliens.
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I'm sorry, but if this is what passes for "content" the Daily Beast should stick to aggregation. Is there anybody in their right mind who actually cares whether Madonna fired her personal trainer and that this person lied about her credentials. This is beyond drivel.
The writer says people are sneering at Anderson because her results have "as much to do with the with the diet as the regimen." Well, duh. You want to drop some pounds, it's ALL about the food, money.
i read this to find out who suckered madonna into sculpting the man arms. was it Anderson?
padded resumes. messy relationships. bad financial choices. whatever. who cant be accused of claiming to be a julliard trained choreographer? I won 4 nobel prizes before the age of 6.
Madonna doesn't understand that when you have a kid you cannot always jump at other people's whims? Perhaps if Ms. Anderson had an army of nannies to raise her child like Madonna, she would be more available. Obviously, Madonna is not raising her own 5 kids, or she would know that caring for your child comes first. How sad for her children, having a nut job for a mother.
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