Support truly
independent journalism
Teresa Reveles, Richard Simmons’ live-in housekeeper of nearly four decades has broken her silence after the 76-year-old’s death.
Reveles, 73, had lived with the late workout guru in California since 1987 and told People that he died from a heart attack in his bedroom just a day after his most recent birthday.
When I saw him, he looked peaceful,” she said. “But his hands were balled into fists. That’s why I know it was a heart attack. I had a heart attack a few years ago and my hands did the same.”
The day before his death she says Simmons stayed in bed and complained of leg pain but refused to go to the hospital to get it checked out.
She told him: “Let’s go to the hospital. Maybe you broke your leg.” He responded, “No, Teresa. Not on my birthday. Why we don’t wait and we do it in the morning.”
But she says that “in the morning it was too late.”
Reveles was accused in a 2017 podcast by Simmons’ friend Mauro Oliveira of holding the star “hostage”, which his representative told People at the time was a “complete load of c**p.”
She continues to live in Simmons’ home but is now planning to move to a property she owns in Mexico.
“Everything happened the way he wanted,” she said. He wanted to die first, he went first. And you know what? I’m very happy because Richard was really, very happy. He died very happy.”
She told People she started working for Simmons through an agency. On the first day she arrived at Simmons’ home, she had a tiny suitcase and he asked her where the rest of her belongings were.
“Richard says to me, ‘Where are your clothes? Where is your big suitcase?’ I said, ‘I just bring the little suitcase because I only try this for two weeks. If you don’t like me or you don’t like my cooking, then I can’t work,’” she said.
Simmons responded, “Teresa, come in, you are never going to leave. We are going to be together until I die.”
Though Reveles says people thought of her as Simmons’ housekeeper, she said that’s a misconception.
“His housekeeper is someone else, she’s worked here for 40 years.” During her time with Simmons, Reveles shopped for him, saw the upkeep of the house and yard, and cooked for him. She said August 9th would’ve been their 36th anniversary.
Simmons first became famous in 1974 when he opened a health-food eatery and exercise studio called Ruffage and the Anatomy Asylum. He went on to author nine books and diet plans. He starred in infomercials and created his own workout videos, selling millions of copies.
Simmons had become reclusive in recent years, causing much speculation among his fans and prompting tabloid reporters to follow Reveles around. She later found out that two tracking devices had been put under her car. She went to the police in 2019.
Reveles said Simmons had stopped wanting to go out as he got older.
“He did not want anyone to see him,” she said. “But Richard looked the same. Okay, maybe a little older, like me, because we have to age. A little less hair. But he weighed the same, mostly. He was not as skinny.”
She said he’d repeatedly tell her “I don’t want people to see me. I don’t look that beautiful anymore, Teresa.”
Simmons took comfort in hand-feeding a family of skunks at his back door in West Hollywood, California. He’d feed them peanuts by hand, Reveles said, adding that she tried to warn him that the animals had rabies.
The woman said the star would give her presents, most recently a diamond pin, and take her on trips, many of them to Venice, Italy.
