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A Quickie With Jackie Warner

Last season on Bravo’s Work Out, out lesbian Jackie Warner introduced us to her Beverly Hills gym, Sky Sport & Spa; developed an S/M-tinged fitness clothing line; kept her attention-seeking trainers in check; and battled a biting girlfriend. On the second season of her drama-laden reality show, Warner launches a fitness camp, breaks up with her girlfriend and, according to previews, embarks on a relationship with heteroflexible trainer Rebecca. She recently chatted with us about how she keeps it all together and finds time to work out her abs.

AfterEllen.com: How are things at Sky Sport & Spa?

Jackie Warner: They’re great. It’s an exciting time. I started Skylab, which is an offshoot of Sky Sport, and that’s featured heavily in the second season. It’s the life-changing camp [where] you can live [and] breathe fitness and nutrition. I’m hoping to really inspire people with that.

AE: A big part of the show focuses on the drama that’s created by your trainers. Is it hard to keep them from running amok?

JW: It’s sometimes hard being a boss with this particular [group]. They’re featured on the show because they’re terrific trainers [but also] because they have strong personalities. It’s a TV show, after all. I’ve always been a boss. When I was an assistant at Warner Brothers, I sucked. You know, I’m not a good follower. I’m a better leader.

AE: I was shocked to read that your trainer Doug Blasdell died in January.

JW: It was very sudden. It happened [while] we were still shooting. It was very sad for all of us, and we were traumatized. Everyone is still dealing in their own way. This season, if it’s about anything, it’s about emotion, power, pushing forward.

AE: You also had another kind of loss: the end of your five-year relationship with Mimi. Do you still speak to her?

JW: I see her all the time. This is a small town, especially in the lesbian community. I’m polite, I’m friendly, but I have no interest in having a relationship with her in any way.

AE: Did the show contribute to the demise of your relationship?

JW: No. I would love to be able to say it was misrepresented, but sadly it wasn’t. Sometimes people do [some] things very well and excel, and then they fail in one area. I feel like I’ve failed miserably in my personal life. But all you can do is pick yourself up, learn from it and [not] repeat those past mistakes.

AE: So, no biting this season?

JW: No. Those days are gone. I haven’t been single in years, and I’m having a lot of fun. I have my friends; I have my businesses. I have to work very hard on myself and then, in between, date. So, I’m … in a good place.

AE: How’s your clothing line doing?

JW: It’s going well. It’s all a learning experience, and I love it. You know, I got my degree in fashion and illustrating, so it’s fun for me.

AE: The look that was featured in Season 1 was a little edgy. It had a little S&M flavor to it.

JW: Everything does! [But] that’s not my sex life. I’m not into it there, but I like [clothes] to have an edge. I’m not into form-fitting lycra. I started the line because I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I started making my own things and that’s how it came into fruition.

AE: Workout machines remind me of S&M contraptions.

JW: [Laughs.] So what you’re saying is: You don’t like the gym.

AE: Let’s just say I want to do nothing and still look like you. Can you help me with that?

JW: Um, no. Listen, if there was a magic pill, I would take it and I would sell it, but there’s not. But you don’t have to kill yourself. It takes smart, hard work.

The way I teach – and the way I teach my trainers to teach – is an hour at Sky Sport is, in my opinion – and I’m sure it’s a little ego-driven, I’m sure – like five hours with another trainer [or at] another gym. I came up with the – for lack of a better phrase – “the three F’s of fitness.”

AE: What are those?

JW: Using the right functioning with the perfect form to complete fatigue. And complete fatigue means that you do certain back-to-back exercises until you cannot lift yourself again.

AE: I can think of a fourth F for that.

JW: [Laughs.] No, you would love it. It becomes addictive.

AE: Yeah … uh, no.

JW: I couldn’t do and take on as much as I [have] right now if I did not do my workouts. I would go insane.

AE: Do you have any aspirations to be an actor, too?

JW: No. I like being behind the scenes. I am not an actress.

AE: Well, that’s too bad because you have the look to play a kick-ass action star.

JW: Oh gosh. No way. I’ll be an action star in my own life.

Work Out airs Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. EST on Bravo.

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