Princess Diana's Truths Were Too Heavy Her Trainer Couldn't Take It

For six years, fitness coach Jenni Rivett was more than just a trainer to Princess Diana; she was her trusted confidante.

From emotional revelations to royal routines, Rivett opens up about the vulnerable, vibrant, and private side of the Princess of Wales, offering a rare glimpse into the woman behind the crown.

It was late August in 1997 when Princess Diana handed her trainer, Jenni Rivett, a card marked with her September workout schedule.

She was about to jet off to St. Tropez for a holiday with Dodi Al-Fayed. Diana was smiling. She looked forward to the sun, the break, and possibly the love that was blooming.

But Rivett remembers something else.

"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," Jenni told the Daily Mail. "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."

Diana would never return from that trip. Her death in a car crash days later shocked the world and shattered those who knew her best.

Rivett, on holiday in Turkey at the time, received the news in the early hours. "It wasn't just the loss of a client. It was the loss of someone I cared deeply about," she shared.

As her marriage to Prince Charles crumbled, so did Diana's emotional world.

Between 1991 and 1997, widely known as "the war of the Windsors," the Princess found refuge in her training sessions. With Rivett, she could be herself.

"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.'"

Though Diana was the most photographed woman on the planet, Rivett recalls someone who craved privacy and authenticity.

The fitness coach said, "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."

Rivett also said Diana would have been heartbroken over the current rift between Prince William and Prince Harry. She noted, "Diana loved her boys; they were everything to her. She would have been devastated at what is going on between them today."

When Diana first met Rivett at the Harbour Club in Chelsea, she bounced into the room and joked, "Now, what can you do with this body?"

That openness defined their relationship.

Diana trained three times a week, loved "Step" aerobics, and focused heavily on posture and core strength. "With Diana, it was all about the technique. She liked to get things right," Rivett shared.

She was hands-on too, often spotting gym-goers doing exercises wrong and asking Rivett to correct them. When they weren't inside, Diana loved rollerblading in Kensington Gardens, wearing a baseball cap in a mostly futile attempt to avoid paparazzi.

In fact, it was Diana's idea to wear the same sweatshirt, a blue Virgin Atlantic one, so that photographers wouldn't make money off new images.

That sweatshirt, later gifted to Rivett, sold at auction for over £40,000. Rivett donated the money to help her gardener's son go to school. She revealed, "I wanted it to mean something. Diana would have liked that."

Rivett remembers Diana as warm and nurturing.

When she became pregnant in 1993, Diana gave her a cardigan and a heartfelt card that read, "Something small for your bundle should it arrive whilst I am away, Love Diana."

Rivett would sometimes bring her daughter Kirsti to workouts at Kensington Palace. William and Harry would fuss over who got to hold the baby, though Diana wasn't afraid to scold them when they disrupted sessions.

The Princess loved ballet, stretching at the barre, and doing cardio on the elliptical. She even asked Rivett to teach her to rollerblade.

In 1995, the tabloids dubbed her "Princess of Wheels" after a set of sneaky photos hit the press.

"She had this youthful energy and curiosity," Rivett said. "And even as she evolved into a global humanitarian icon, she never stopped being real."

Rivett often reflects on what Princess Diana would be like at 63, had she lived.

She noted, "Diana was dedicated to her training and equally interested in nutrition. I believe she would have aged extremely well."

If she were training her today, Rivett said she would recommend strength training, mobility exercises, walking, high-intensity interval training, and a protein-rich Mediterranean-style diet. Supplements like Omega 3, Vitamin D, and magnesium would be included, as well as intentional daily gratitude or prayer.

Above all, Rivett believes in balance. "If you can't resist that cake or chocolate, have it... then move on. Do your work out and forget about it. Don't think it's all over," she said.

Rivett still visits the gates of Kensington Palace when she's in the UK. She shared, "The one thing that saddens me is that Diana never knew how much she was loved."

She remembered laying down flowers the day after the Princess died and whispering, "Do you believe me now; how much people loved you?"