MY FRIEND DIANA
Her secrets are safe with me, says SA personal trainer
An invitation from Buckingham Palace to attend Princess Diana’s funeral confirmed the stark reality for South African personal trainer Jenni Rivett — she would never see her “beautiful friend ever again”.
Rivett, a former Durbanite, who helped the elegant royal keep her svelte figure, was privy to her deepest secrets, including details of her marriage to Prince Charles.
But she remained loyal, even after being offered a “large sum of money” to spill the beans on Diana following her death.
Now, as the world prepares to remember Diana on the 20th anniversary of the car crash in Paris, Rivett has joined the chorus of voices — including that of Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer — to condemn UK Channel 4’s airing of Diana: In Her Own Words last week.
The footage shows Diana speaking about her sex life and marriage during speech lessons with voice coach Peter Settelen.
“She shared most of the things that were aired on Channel 4 with me too,” Rivett told the Sunday Times this week. “Being her trainer and working so closely with her for many years, it’s inevitable that she was bound to share her stories with me.
“I just could not breach this absolute trust she had in me, despite being offered quite a large sum of money when she died. For this reason I find it unethical and greedy for others to betray her trust as such.”
Rivett closely guards a private collection of photographs of herself with the princess.
She was working as a personal trainer in the UK during the 1990s when she was summoned to Kensington Palace, the Princess of Wales’s official residence. “She said she had heard about me at three different dinner parties . . . so she decided it was time to meet.
“During my first trip up to Kensington Palace, to meet her, Diana bounced into the room and thanked me for coming to see her as she had heard how busy I was.”
Rivett recalled Diana asking her: “Now, what can you do with this body?” “It was amazing,” said Rivett. So began their exercise regime, either at a well-secured gym or, if Diana was pressed for time, at Kensington Palace.
The princess loved to exercise and rarely missed a session. “She was extremely dedicated and focused on her training . . . Her outlook was healthy about her appearance. She was not obsessed, but it was important to her.”
It was Rivett who helped Diana tone her enviable arms. “She would always tell me what dress she would be wearing to an upcoming gala or glitzy event and ask me how to ensure her arms looked great in the dress.
“We had a little routine going where she would do a few arm exercises to get them Her outlook was healthy about her appearance. She was not obsessed, but it was important to her Jenni Rivett Personal trainer pumped up a little.”
Diana, it appears, had a wicked sense of humour. “The funniest thing she ever told me was the day she thought one of her butlers was going through her drawers! She put a Post-It note in every drawer with the name of the butler followed by a big fat ‘NO!’ That was her!” said Rivett.
The two women developed a close bond over the years, even taking a skiing holiday together overseas.
After the birth of Rivett’s daughter, Diana had hinted that she would have loved a girl herself. “She would have loved a daughter and was besotted with Kirsti. She used to ask me to bring her up to the palace often. I have a beautiful card from her . . . which she sent with a beautiful cardigan for Kirsti.
“I never overstepped the mark of being her trainer and I think that is why our relationship lasted so long. She felt very comfortable around me and we did get on well and met at a few social engagements and I was invited to cocktail parties up at Kensington Palace on a few occasions.”
Diana was “human like the rest of us and had her faults too. However, her good qualities far outshone any imperfections . . . She had this incredible ability to make you feel like you were the most important person in the room.”
Four months before Diana’s death, Rivett resigned as her personal trainer, to return to South Africa.