Personal trainer’s ‘wife’ asked female client to fire her ‘husband’ because they’re ‘too friendly’

A woman claims to have been approached by her personal trainer’s “wife” who demanded she fire her “husband”.

The 43-year-old was approached by her trainer’s supposed partner after giving him an early Christmas card thanking him for his help. However, the woman was later approached by someone who claims to be his wife, and accused her of being “too friendly” with the trainer.

Taking to the Am I The A**hole subreddit, the woman explains that she met her trainer, who she gave the pseudonym Alex, in 2018 through the gym.

After suffering from chronic pain for the last two decades, the woman sought out an alternative to swimming, which helped initially. But she later began having a negative reaction to the chemicals in the pool.

She explained: “Alex helped beyond expectation. He helped me improve so much, a few months ago my doctor actually switched me to milder pain medication, and lowered the doses too.”

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As a token of her appreciation, she gave Alex a $50 gift card along with a Christmas card which read: "Thank you for your help. Best wishes."

However, after giving him the card, she was training on her own when a woman approached her and claimed to be Alex’s wife.

She said: “She accused me of getting friendly with Alex and demanded that I ask the gym to switch trainers. I refused and she got aggressive, so I got the staff involved and they removed her.”

The gym-goer’s friends sided with the “wife” and said she was disrespectful and “should have honoured her wishes”.

She added: “Though I don’t think Alex’s wife’s insecurity is my problem, I feel bad about possibly getting him into trouble at home.”

In an update addressing some of the comments she received on the post, she said: “Many of you mentioned the possibility of a stalker imposter and now I’m getting chills. Never even thought of that!

“I’ll give the gym a call first because if it’s a stalker imposter then she might harass other people too. Since I don’t have Alex’s private number I’ll ask the gym to give him a heads up. Then I’ll talk to him when I see him next week!”

The top comment with more than 11,600 upvotes said that the original poster (OP) was simply making use of a professional service, and she has done nothing inappropriate. They added: “Her issues are between her husband and herself, at home.”

Responding, the Redditor said that one of her friends said the card was “inappropriate” because “nobody gives gifts to ‘service people’ (her words?)”. She added that she is experiencing self doubt at the moment.

When asked how the supposed wife would even recognise her, she explained that sometimes he films her, with her consent, to review her posture and movements. “That’s how he has been able to identify and alleviate some of my major pains,” she said.

Another commenter highlighted that there is a “small but non-zero chance” that the woman isn’t actually Alex’s wife. They said that if it really is his wife, “it sounds like their marriage is having issues”. They advised discussing the situation with Alex and letting him decide how to move forward. A different Redditor responded to the comment, writing: “That’s what I suspected too: this girl may not be his wife but possibly a jealous psycho who thinks Alex is her man.”

One Redditor said it sounds like she has found a great personal trainer, and said they have also given gifts to colleagues. They urged the OP to talk it through with Alex, adding that “communication is key”. The original poster replied to say that she wasn’t sure about speaking to Alex as she didn’t want to “stir the pot”, but said she would speak to him during their next session.

What do you think?