I'm actually relieved it's not just my A. I heard a lot about non-A partners who try to take control and fix their partners but not about A's who try really hard to hand that control over to their partners who don't want it.
The thing is that he works in a high pressure job. He has lots of tight deadlines and needs to be artistically and technically on top of things while handling big egos and their unreasonable demands. (He works in tv/film). And he's very successful and capable at what he does. He handles all that pressure and succeeds at it. He works in an industry that very few people have any success at all at and he is well regarded.
I just can't believe that someone so capable in such a tough arena thinks that the best thing to do when the saddle falls of his bike is to call his wife. It's just utterly unbelievable.