For more than three decades, Richard Simmons and Teresa Reveles lived under the same Beverly Hills roof. She cooked his meals, ran his household, kept his secrets and, in the end, was the last person to see him alive. Nearly two years after his death, the woman who quietly anchored the fitness iconâs private world is speaking out about the man she knew and worked for.
Reveles, 73, began working for Simmons in 1988. According to interviews sheâs given over the past year â and a new conversation featured in âThe Mystery of Richard Simmons: A Diane Sawyer Special,â airing Tuesday, May 12 on ABC â the connection between them was immediate. As Reveles tells it, Simmons told her early on that she was never going to leave him. She didnât. For 36 years, they shared a home, a routine and a deep, unconventional bond that defied easy labels.
Reveles has been clear that her relationship with Simmons was not romantic in the traditional sense, but she says he did kiss her and shower her with affection on a regular basis. She has gently pushed back at speculation about Simmonsâ personal life, saying his orientation was his story to tell, not hers.
Richard Simmons’ Relationship With Housekeeper Teresa Reveles Fascinated Fans
Their dynamic baffled â and sometimes worried â Simmonsâ inner circle. After he stepped out of public view in February 2014, longtime friends grew alarmed. Tabloids floated the idea that Reveles was holding him hostage, a theory Simmons himself shut down in a 2016 phone interview on “The Today Show,” insisting he had simply chosen solitude. Reveles has since laughed off the rumor, joking that if anything, he kidnapped her.
According to Reveles, the two were extremely close behind closed doors. When Reveles was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2023, Simmons wrote her hundreds of notes telling her how much she meant to him. She kept every one. She has said the final 10 years of his life were his happiest, and that she never once saw him in a bad mood across their decades together.
Reveles Was With Simmons Until the Very End
The special also leans on Revelesâ memory of Simmons’ years away from the spotlight.
She describes long drives around Los Angeles so Simmons could see how the city had changed without him, and her growing worry as age and old aerobics injuries caught up with him. Simmons, she has said, did not want to grow old in public â he wanted fans to remember him the way they first met him: relentlessly upbeat, in a tank top, dancing.
On July 11, 2024, Simmons had a fall at home. Reveles urged him to go to the hospital. He refused, not wanting to spend his 76th birthday there. Two days later, on July 13, she found him on his bedroom floor. The cause was later ruled an accident, complications from the fall combined with heart disease.
The Sawyer special, in its way, gives Reveles a forum to tell the world about the Simmons she knew â not as a rumored captor or shadowy housekeeper, but as the closest person to one of Americaâs most beloved oddballs.ââââââââââââââââ
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