Richard Simmons’ housekeeper believes fitness guru died from heart attack: ‘I can’t stop crying’
The woman who found Richard Simmons dead is finally speaking out.
Teresa Reveles, who worked as Simmons’ house manager for 35 years, got emotional talking about the fitness icon’s passing in an interview with People published Monday.
“I can’t stop crying. I still can’t believe what happened,” she said.
“I want to celebrate Richard. He died happy.”
Simmons died on July 13 — just one day after his 76th birthday.
He allegedly suffered a fall in his bathroom and refused to get medical help immediately despite Reveles’ concern.
At around 10 a.m. on July 13, Reveles found Simmons dead on the floor next to his bed.
The late television personality had a heart attack, according to Reveles.
However, The Post confirmed with the LA Medical Examiner’s Office earlier this month that Simmons’ cause of death was deferred and is pending investigation.
Reveles said that the morning of his birthday, Simmons told her, “Teresa, I can’t go down, my legs hurt a lot.”
She told him, “Let’s go to the hospital. Maybe you broke your leg.”
But according to Reveles, Simmons refused.
“No, Teresa. Not on my birthday. Why we don’t wait and we do it in the morning,’ ” he told her.
Reveles said in the interview, “But in the morning it was too late.”
“When I saw him, he looked peaceful,” Reveles recalled, revealing that Simmons’ hands were balled into fists when he was found dead.
“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,” she added.
The weight-loss guru was out of the spotlight in the years leading up to his death. Reveles said that Simmons couldn’t exercise or teach fitness classes. She also said he had a knee replacement surgery and needed another one.
According to Reveles, Simmons told her in 2014 that he couldn’t jump anymore and “I think it’s time for me to stop.”
“When he told me that I thought, ‘He’s kidding. He can’t do that,’ ” said Reveles. “But he said, ‘I want to be Richard. If I’m not going to be Richard …’ —you know, with famous people they say, ‘The day I can’t be myself, then I have to stop working.’ And that’s why he did it.”
“He thought he looked too old,” Reveles added of Simmons. “He did not want anyone to see him.”
She claimed he repeatedly told her, “I don’t want people to see me. I don’t look that beautiful anymore, Teresa.”
Reveles revealed that she’s still living in Simmons’ house. “Everything happened the way he wanted. 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 said.
Simmons was laid to rest on Friday, July 19 in Los Angeles at a private funeral attended by his family and closest friends.
He was buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary.
