Has celebrity trainer Bob Greene failed Oprah?

Since January 7^th, Bob Greene (aka Oprah’s fitness guru and trainer) has embarked on a US wide tour to promote his site “Best Life” and to sign books.

Since 1992, Bob Greene has been helping Queen Oprah remain at a healthy weight and he’s been making a killing in the process. Everyone would only dream of getting the “stamp of approval” from Oprah because you are guaranteed access to the Millionaires’ Club (pick me Oprah, pick me)!

Bob Greene has sold several thousand copies of all of his books (if not millions) and he’s now part of Oprah’s go-to-people when it comes to health and fitness.

Since Oprah has this celebrity trainer on speed dial and he no longer charges her for his services (no kidding, he’s making way more money than he could ever dream of with his books and speaking engagements), you have to wonder, how can it be that she still managed to gain 60 lbs since her ideal 2005 weight of 160 lbs (yes, I know she has a thyroid problem).

After watching Bob Greene on Oprah’s show talking about how difficult it was to watch her gain the weight back, I had one nagging question on my mind: as a professional fitness trainer, how can it be that Bob Greene didn’t intervene sooner to help control Oprah’s weight gain?

The interview with Bob Greene made him seem like he was a spectator and not an active participant in Oprah’s fitness success, yet he’s selling books, getting bookings to speak, getting mega sponsor dollars and promoting other types of programs every day.

Does it mean that Bob Greene failed his #1 client (the most visible and most powerful woman in the world)?

I’ll be honest, this question popped into my head a few days after I had reviewed Oprah’s Best Day kick off on January 5^th, 2009 and late last night I was surfing the pages of the New York Times when I found an article that actually supported my sneaky suspicions.

Here was my original post on Oprah’s weight gain: Oprah Winfrey: I’m cursed with a fat sentence!

http://www.mybeautymatch.com/oprah-winfrey-i-am-cursed-with-a-fat-sentence/

Hollywood trainer Gunnar Peterson (he’s trained Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz and Mike Tyson to name a few) feels that Oprah’s falling off the wagon is partially Bob Greene’s fault.

If you have two minutes, it’s worth reading, but I think the closing sentence from Gunnar Peterson says it all”

“Great plan, Bob! In theory it’s a 10, but guess what: it’s not working.”

You can read the full article here: Her Bulge, His Book and Their Plan B

2009 will be an interesting year because I look forward to seeing how Oprah loses the weight and how many special programs she’ll devote to her quest on the Oprah Show. It will also be interesting to see what new diet & fitness plans Bob Greene comes up with!

What do you think of Oprah’s weight gain? Do you think that Bob Greene, her trainer, should have stepped in sooner or to you think Oprah has only herself to blame for “getting fat again”?