Jackie Warner,
owner of Beverly Hills gym Sky Sport and Spa, is blazing
trails as the out lesbian star of Work Out,
Bravo’s hot new reality show.
Having watched
the first couple of episodes of the new Bravo reality
series Work Out, I’m a little daunted about
meeting its star, personal trainer Jackie Warner, at a
Beverly Hills restaurant-bar.
Not that Warner,
who’s 37, seems overly intimidating on TV. Yes,
she’s an extraordinary physical specimen,
complete with eight-pack abs. And she’s an
alpha gal, to be sure, as seen clearly when she disciplines
the other trainers who work at her hoity-toity Beverly
Hills penthouse fitness center, Sky Sport and Spa. But
she also has a sexy warmth on camera: She’s
usually grinning, even when making employees toe the line or
clients work their asses off.
No, the fear
factor in meeting Jackie alone is wondering whether her
girlfriend of 41⁄2 years, Mimi, may be lurking. The
fiery blond Brazilian—an artist and fitness pro
herself and 11 years Warner’s junior—is
a jealous sort. On one episode of Work Out,
Mimi dispenses some discipline of her own to oversexed
trainer Rebecca after the flirtatious employee
playfully moons her boss. And when Jackie dares to
visit a strip bar with the trainers or doesn’t call
Mimi when she’s supposed to, there’s
hell to pay.
Then
there’s Mimi’s tendency to bite. Her on-camera
love nips are just this side of The Hunger.
“Anytime I see her, at any function, there is
biting,” Jackie affirms with something between
a smile and a grimace. “I have scars; it’s
embarrassing. Try explaining a bite mark on your arm
when you’re wearing a tank top.”
Warner,
who’s a charmer in person, is nothing if not frank.
But perhaps we’ve gotten ahead of the story.
Let’s not skip over the most important point:
Bravo is going to broadcast a reality series starring a
lesbian, and quite a hot one at that.
Forget The L
Word—Jackie and Mimi’s dyke drama is
the real deal, and many lesbians who watch the show will
identify. And Jackie’s androgynous cross-gender,
cross-sexuality appeal should resonate with men and
women of other appetites as well.
“Gay men
love me,” she says matter-of-factly. “I get
mobbed every time I go to the Abbey [the popular West
Hollywood restaurant and hangout]. And I do get hit on
by a lot of straight guys. I think a big part of it is
that I grew up in a small town surrounded by straight
people. I’m extremely comfortable with my
sexuality, and I can be flirtatious. I don’t
know what it is, but I get hit on so much more by straight
women than gay women.”
Related Links:
Sky
Sport and Spa
Bravo
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Kort is an author whose works include Dinah!
Three Decades of Sex, Golf, and Rock ’n’ Roll.
Photo by Mark Hanauer.