Teresa Reveles is finally sharing insight into her relationship with Richard Simmons.
A year after the Sweatin’ to the Oldies instructor died in his Beverly Hills home just one day after his 76th birthday, his former housekeeper—who cohabited with Simmons for over 30 years—is speaking out about their unique dynamic.
“He never love anybody like me,” she told NBC News’ Liz Kreutz in an interview published July 11. “He wasn’t my lover—not sexually—but he kissed me all the time.”
And Reveles—who began working for Simmons in the late 1980s—said that their dynamic took shape almost instantly, adding, “He [fell] in love with me right away, that he says, ‘No, you’re never going to leave me.’”
Although they spent most of their time holed up in Simmons’ home, Reveles laughed off the prior speculation from the fitness instructor’s friends nearly a decade ago that she had kidnapped him, telling NBC News, “No, I think he kidnapped me.”
Reveles admitted the duo’s relationship was like no other, noting that she was the closest thing Simmons had to a romantic partner at the end of his life.
“My everything,” she described Simmons as, before clarifying, “Really like a brother, or he was like my father, my friend, my boyfriend.”
As for how Simmons saw her or any potentially romantic partners? She demurred, adding, “That answer is for Richard, not for me."
Despite many people in Simmons’ inner circle being wary of their dynamic, Reveles paid no attention to the speculation.
“It’s their problem, you know?” the 73-year-old continued. “We were very happy. And the last 10 years was the most happy years.”
Indeed, the housekeeper said the late 76-year-old never had a bad day. As she put it, “I never saw Richard, in 36 years, unhappy, or mean, or upset.”
Simmons, for his part, did not overtly clarify the specifics of his relationship with Reveles, but he did shut down the hostage rumors in 2016.
“I am not kidnapped,” he told Entertainment Tonight at the time, per CBS. “I am just in my house right now. It was time for me to take some time to be by myself.”
For a deeper look into Simmons’ life in and out of the spotlight, keep reading…
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
1978
1979
1980
1980
1981
1984
1985
1992
1993
1996
2000
2004
2008
2010
2010
2013
2013