An East Village "master trainer" and gym owner is a "self-admitted 'sex addict'" who is ruining his gym by sleeping with clients and trainers alike, according to a new lawsuit. Body Evolutions founder Billy Macagnone sleeps with everyone he can (and then dumps them on Facebook) according to his business partner and former lover Renee Linnell. But, despite being a client who slept with him before going into business with him, nobody told her that was the case and now she wants out.
According to Linnell, she and Macagnone met at the end of 2010 and a few months later she started to see him for private lessons at his East 10th Street gym. Soon after things got physical, as they say, but that only lasted until October 2011, when she says she ended it. Despite that, Linnell still agreed in December 2011 to invest $225,000 to become the half-owner of the Body Evolutions studio.
And that is when the problems started. According to the suit Linnell soon noticed that Macagnone was never around and rarely taught classes—which forced them to hire additional trainers to keep the "Gyrotonics" gym going. Oh, what's "Gyrotonics?" Here, let's let Macagnone explain!
So where was Macagnone all the time? You are asking good questions today! According to the suit Linnell "discovered that Macagnone’s absence from the studio was due in large part to his being a self-admitted 'sex addict'" who needed those naps "in his apartment above the studio to preserve his energy for these [sexual] activities." Worse, "The numerous and frequent affairs resulted in substantial loss of business" because "Macagnone drove away clients when he inevitably ended his brief sexual affairs with them by posting messages on Facebook," the suit goes on to claim.
Linnell is asking for her money back, to end the business relationship and some unspecified money damages to boot. There was no answer when we called the Body Evolutions studio for comment.
