Sad reason Princess Diana's personal trainer begged her 'not to share personal secrets'
Jenni Rivett was Diana's PT for seven yearsIn a new interview, Princess Diana‘s personal trainer has opened up about her relationship with the late royal.
Jenni Rivett, a South African PT, has revealed some new details about one of her most famous clients…
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Who was Princess Diana’s personal trainer?
Jenni Rivett had been Diana’s PT for seven years prior to her death, and they reportedly shared a strong bond.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Jenni, now 65, revealed that Diana booked in some PT sessions with her just weeks before her death.
The sessions – pencilled in for September 1997 – were booked before the Princess of Wales headed to St Tropez with Dodi Al-Fayed in August.
Princess Diana died in a car crash on August 31, 1997.
Speaking about how Diana was before the holiday, Jenni said: “She was excited to get away, she needed a break, and she loved being in the sun, but there was a lot of stuff going on with her. A lot of sadness, too. While she was always terrific fun, had a great sense of humour, I always got this sense of underlying sadness about her. She didn’t want this life. She didn’t want any of it. All she ever wanted was to be a good wife and mother.”
Jenni on her bond with Princess Diana
Jenni was left shocked by Diana’s death. Not only was Diana a client, but they shared a close bond, spending three hours a week together working out.
“Sometimes Diana would tell me things so personal I would ask her: ‘Please don’t say any more because if it ends up in the papers tomorrow, you will think it was me.’ I would give her the very best advice I could, yet I’d pinch myself – here I am, consultant to the royal family! But saying that, I knew my place. I never brought up subjects myself, I never overstepped the line, and I think she appreciated that,” Jenni said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Jenni said that Diana would be “devastated” at her sons Prince William and Harry’s ongoing feud.
‘I was nervous’
In an amusing anecdote, Jenni admitted she didn’t curtsy to Diana for the first four years of training together, something she was mortified about.
“I was very nervous [when I first met her]. No one explained the protocol to me. For four years, I didn’t know I had to curtsy until I saw someone else doing it. I was shocked and apologised, but Diana said: ‘Oh Jenni, you are from South Africa, I know you didn’t know. Please don’t ever curtsey to me,'” she said.
Jenni also praised how “dedicated” Diana was to her training and revealed that the princess was a fan of step classes.
Sometimes Diana would tell me things so personal I would ask her: ‘Please don’t say any more because if it ends up in the papers tomorrow, you will think it was me.’
The late Princess of Wales also liked to get the technique right, and if she saw other people working out incorrectly, she’d go over to them and correct them!
As well as being her personal trainer, Jenni was her lookout when she left the gym, keeping an eye out for paparazzi.
Diana came up with an idea to wear the same sweatshirt every time to the gym, so that photographers wouldn’t have any new images to sell.
Years later, Jenni was gifted the sweatshirt by Diana’s family. She sold it in an auction in 2019, raising £40,000, which she donated to a good cause – something Diana would likely have been happy with.
Read more: ‘Reason’ Princess Diana felt ‘let down terribly’ by her ‘tearful’ mother during wedding to Charles
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