Ugh, I avoided this story yesterday, but now I can’t avoid it because Page Six has added yet another layer to the stupid drama. Here’s the background… years ago, Madonna began promoting a relatively unknown trainer and that trainer’s “Method” of weight loss. The trainer? Tracy Anderson, also known as “that weird-looking woman who says that women should live on 1,000 calories a day and work out three hours a day if they want to look presentable.” Madonna became the poster girl for Tracy’s “Method” – and those were the years where Madonna looked awful. I mean, she was really muscular (which isn’t bad) but she just looked roidy and gristly and not good. Madonna introduced Tracy around to her friends, and Tracy found an enduring friendship with Gwyneth Paltrow.

At some point, Madonna and Tracy had a falling out. Around the same time, Madonna and Gwyneth had a falling out too, and those fall outs are probably related. Word is that Madonna didn’t appreciate that Tracy was spending more time with her other clients like Gwyneth, and Madge didn’t like that Goop and Tracy were going into business together. Another layer? Tracy is up to her eyeballs in years of fraudulent behavior – she’s been sued by former business partners and she had periphery connections to Madonna’s poorly-operated (and ultimately criminally negligent) Raising Malawi charity.

So, Madge was no longer speaking to Tracy or Gwyneth, and Tracy and Gwyneth went into business together and they do interviews together and they sound like body-shaming Mean Girls together and everybody wants to train with Tracy now. But Madonna quietly got herself a new trainer named Nicole Winhoffer, and Winhoffer is going head-to-head with Tracy:

Madonna is continuing to wage war against her former trainer Tracy Anderson, sources exclusively tell Page Six. The pair, who worked together for three years, had a contentious split in 2009, and now Madge’s new trainer, Nicole Winhoffer, is getting in on the fight.

We’re told Winhoffer and Madonna are releasing their new range of workout DVDs, “Hard Candy Fitness: ‘Addicted to Sweat,’ ” as a way to get back at Anderson, whose DVD series has become a major part of her empire.

“This is not about being competitive with Tracy,” Madonna’s rep insisted. “It’s just timing. Nicole was on tour with Madonna all over the world, so she wasn’t available to do much promotion for the DVD series. But now she’s back in New York.”

A source close to Anderson sniffed, “Madonna and that trainer are not on her radar. She could not care less.”

[From Page Six]

You know how “Madonna and that trainer are not on Tracy’s radar”? To emphasize just how much they are not on Tracy’s radar, Tracy’s “friend” (hint: it was Tracy) went to Page Six today to tell the backstory on the situation. Tracy couldn’t care less about Madonna’s new trainer because Tracy used to train Winhoffer. And Winhoffer used to be a fatty. That’s how you know this is coming directly from Tracy Anderson, by the way:

The bad blood boiling between Madonna and Tracy Anderson since their 2009 split has everything to do with Madge’s current trainer, Nicole Winhoffer, says a source. We’re told Anderson trained Winhoffer for a year and introduced her to the pop legend.

“Nicole was overweight until Tracy shaped her body,” snarks the insider. “She was a caterer, and wanted to be famous. Tracy had been living with Madonna in London but moved back to the States to spend time with her family, and sent Nicole in her place.”

The source said Nicole was working for Tracy and learned all her moves. Adding, “Nicole doesn’t understand the reasons behind the moves, just the motions.”

At the time of the split, Page Six was told, “Madonna had grown tired of the baggage that Tracy always seemed to be carrying with her,” that it had become a “distraction,” adding further problems arose when Anderson developed a relationship with Philippe van den Bossche, the former head of Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity who was forced out for alleged mismanagement.

[From Page Six]

I can’t believe I’ve talked this much about what amounts to a couple of A-listers getting into a down-and-dirty bitch-fight about TRAINERS. This is not about a man. This is not about money. This is not about the movie role of a lifetime. This is about who yells at them when they’re on the treadmill. As for the way Tracy is insulting Nicole Winhoffer – UGH. GMAFB.

Photos courtesy of WENN.