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CELEBRITY trainer Shannan Ponton has been accused of verbal and emotional abuse after the breakdown of his relationship with model and fashionista Jaime Wright.

Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph, Wright said she left The Biggest Loser TV show's trainer because she feared he would become physically violent if their relationship continued.

"'Pathetic b****' was his favourite thing to call me," Wright said.

"He would be very aggressive, in my face and screaming, telling me I was a liar and a nobody with no friends. He told me everyone liked him because he is a TV star."

Wright, 28, and Ponton, 35, are regulars on the Sydney social scene, often referred to as one of the city's "it" couples.

Wright said she called an end to their six-month relationship when Ponton became abusive in front of her family while on holiday in Bali.
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Wright, who is the face of Bondi Blonde and will launch her own designer shoe collection next year, said she left Ponton because the verbal abuse was escalating.

She flew back to Australia alone and moved out of the Chatswood apartment they had shared for three months.

"I was scared because he was so angry, it exploded -- and it was hard for me to understand where it came from," she said.

"He has a lot of pressure on him and he has a massive ego, but I loved him deeply. People that do this live in denial."

The first signs of abuse emerged about three months into their relationship and Wright said Ponton would "explode over the smallest of things".

She said Ponton would even yell at her for playing her music too loudly on the stereo.

At first the abuse was private but as their relationship went on he became more aggressive in public, Wright said.

"I was in public with one man, the guy I love, but when we were in private he was a completely different person," she said. "It was tough to leave because I thought I was going to marry this man and have his children. People would call us Ken and Barbie so it does put a lot of pressure on us."

Wright said she had been offered money to tell her story to a women's magazine, but chose to speak to The Sunday Telegraph for no fee because she wanted to be a role model for women in abusive relationships. Ponton refused to comment on the story yesterday, as did Channel 10, which screens the show.

Wright said it was more difficult to leave Ponton because their relationship was in the public eye, and because they featured regularly inmagazines and in newspaper social pages.

"No one wants to look like a failure in public," she said.

"It is hard enough to have a relationship break down and then have to deal with the aftermath of being in the public eye."