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Trainer to the Stars Lifts Weights But Can't Lift a Check

By GEOFF WILLIAMS, ON LOAN FROM WALLETPOP.COM
Posted: 2009-06-18 14:19:39
Filed Under: Small Business, Small Business Finance
Tom Wargacki,WireImage|Getty


I like giving people the benefit of the doubt, and would like to give celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson even more so, since she is from Indiana, the state that I called home for four years when I went to college in Bloomington at Indiana University. Plus, my mother-in-law lives in Indiana. There are good people there.

But whatever homespun financial wisdom Anderson picked up in the Midwest was either bad or has apparently long been forgotten. The celebrity fitness trainer is making news lately, not for helping stars lose fat but causing ordinary people to lose money. Incidentally, you quite possibly have heard of Anderson and don't realize it. She has been the focus of quite a few articles over the years as the fitness trainer for Madonna and actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

As Madonna once raved, "Tracy saved me. After two caesarians, three operations for herniated discs and a fall from a horse left me with 10 broken bones, she's the only one who got my body back on its feet."

Ms. Paltrow has been no less effusive ("Her method is so rewarding because, yes, you are working hard, but you know you are getting somewhere"), even partnering up with Anderson to start up an elite gym in Tribeca, a trendy neighborhood in Manhattan. That garnered quite a few headlines when the gym was mentioned in the media this spring. The reason the media was interested was mostly because of the monthly fee to join: $900. That's right -- $900 a month.

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    Now we may know why the fees are so high. Indianapolis Monthly has a feature story this month about Anderson, focusing on how while she may be famous around the world, she has forgotten about a lot of people back home. If it were just a matter of not calling or emailing folks or friending them on Facebook, that'd be one thing, but it seems she owes some of them some money. Indeed, Indianapolis Monthly's Megan McCormick does a masterful job of explaining how Anderson has a rich history of leaving a lot of people poor.

    For instance, when she was just starting out as a fitness trainer in Noblesville, Indiana, she hired a celebrity photographer for promotional photos, drove a luxury SUV and signed leases for businesses. But she didn't pay the rent, and she was thousands of dollars behind on homeowners association dues. Ultimately, Anderson wound up declaring bankruptcy in 2005.

    More troubling -- and where it becomes possible to excuse her bad financial behavior -- is that she didn't seem to learn anything from her financial mistakes. Bankruptcy is supposed to give people a fresh start and not serve as a license to begin all of your financial errors anew. But repeating her financial strategies is exactly what happened. She started a new fitness center in Fishers, Indiana, and hired Glynn Barber, a Portland, Indiana businessman who owned a successful tool-and-die business.

    The long and short of it is that he, too, became a financial casualty, building a fitness machine for Anderson that cost him $70,000. (He didn't do himself any favors when, after he realized he wasn't going to get paid, he agreed to buy into her business; nor did he help himself when the married man started a relationship with Anderson.) There have been other money missteps, but more recently -- about eight months ago -- Anderson shut down Fishers, which might not sound so bad or even responsible given her commitments to a new gym in New York, but when she closed, there were numerous customers who had prepaid for workouts and who are now out thousands of dollars.

    One 32-year-old who paid for workouts and was supposed to be get money for being a dancer in Anderson's aerobics video is quoted saying, "I feel betrayed, totally embarrassed."

    Anderson is reportedly working on paying off her debts to those customers, and surely some of those $900 monthly fees will help do that. And that's the interesting thing in all of this.

    Anderson may not be able to manage money, but she does know how to help people become physically fit. The people interviewed in Indianapolis Monthly all attest to the fact that what she does, she does very well. So if you're reading this and wondering if her workout methods are worth the hype, the people back in Indiana would probably tell you that it is. Go to her gym. Just don't lend her money.

    Geoff Williams is a freelance journalist based outside of Cincinnati. It's been several years, but he has written two feature stories for Indianapolis Monthly.

    2009-05-03 15:02:45
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    elsieecb 03:47:29 PM Sep 26 2009

    Report This!

    Zmeribob. I do spell check even though I might not be GLOBALLY known.

    costatravl 02:00:25 AM Jul 21 2009

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    Hey zmerimob. Is this what you do for fun, looking for grammatical errors in online stories, then posting snarky comments? What a pathetic life you must live. I would feel sorry for you, but you don't seem to be the type of person that feels sympathy for anyone else. So go drown some more kittens, or maybe get a girlfriend. Sheesh!

    zmerimob 06:02:15 PM Jul 16 2009

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    Ninth paragraph. Should say "getting" not "get". Or at least recieving. Come on AOL, dont you people have spellcheck or a 5th grade vocabulary at least? Really now, you do realize you're a globaly marketed company don't you? Step your game up.

    pscarpelli 11:41:52 AM Jul 13 2009

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    This story has been running for weeks, over and over. I'm waiting for breaking news from AOL..."Jacko Dead at 50"...

    suthern60 10:41:22 AM Jul 13 2009

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    maybe the greedy stars could pay a little more..are i would quit

    thomasrtt 10:11:31 AM Jul 01 2009

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    never heard of her...but so what? alot of people are in financil crissis these days

    djcrewsgroup 06:46:12 AM Jul 01 2009

    Report This!

    Hani Homsi In Indianapolis writes BAD checks and dont pay his bills He should be in jail

    pkgromm 07:04:40 PM Jun 28 2009

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    AOL: Who give a flying KCUF

    atimins 03:21:49 PM Jun 27 2009

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    How about a new headline please? Maybe : "Trainer to the Stars commits suicide" This story is going on 1 1/2 months old!!

    atimins 03:19:46 PM Jun 27 2009

    Report This!

    How about a new headline please? Maybe : "Trainer to the Stars commits suiciside" This story is going on 1 1/2 months old!!

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