Even when Konstantinos IX was alive, if Theodora wished to write a secret letter or do something confidential, she would discuss it with Psellos. On becoming empress she immediately summoned Psellos, tragically articulated her sufferings under Konstantinos, confided secret plans, urged him to visit her often and to tell her everything he knew. When Psellos complied, it aroused jealousy. Rivals told tales against him, finding fault with his monastic status and solitary life. Psellos realized this and visited her less often, so that she reproached him for slowness and accused him of scorning her orders. [It is hard to reconcile this report with the fact that Psellos spent much of the relevant time in a monastery on Mt. Olympos. This evidence may been used, with much else, to suggest that Psellos exaggerated his contact with the emperors under whom he lived.]