The Odd Rumors About Richard Simmons' Relationship With His Housekeeper

After spending decades in the spotlight, Richard Simmons simply fell off the face of the earth one fine day in February 2014. He abruptly quit teaching at his famous Los Angeles studio, never to be publicly seen again. A little over a month before, the fitness guru appeared to be his cheerful, flamboyant self in a December 2013 interview on CNN's "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin — until she asked him to reveal what motivates him. "What do you say to yourself in the mirror in the morning?" she asked.

At this point, Simmons' demeanor changed. His main motivation is helping others, he said before delving into how the struggling economy was driving obesity rates up. "But just remember, you're one of a kind, and God could have made you a butterfly that lasted three months," Simmons told Baldwin. "But he made you a human being." Until then, Simmons had remained engaged in his activist role to help reduce childhood obesity. 

In fact, Simmons seemed as passionate as ever about the cause just months before. He had even asked to collaborate with the then-first lady Michelle Obama on her Let's Move! initiative — albeit unsuccessfully. "I've tried to reach my hand out to President [Barack] Obama and the first lady," he told Roll Call in October 2013, just three months before going into seclusion. "They have rejected me." Given its abruptness, Simmons' disappearance has given rise to a series of theories, including one that claims he's being held hostage by his housekeeper. 

The rumors didn't come out of thin air. The notion Richard Simmons was kept housebound by Teresa Reveles came from his former personal assistant and masseur, Mauro Oliveira, who accused the housekeeper of using special powers on the fitness guru. "I asked him, does she control your life? He said 'Yes,'" Oliveira told the Daily Mail in March 2016."And I believe she's doing black magic." Pictures published by the outlet suggest Simmons and Reveles are indeed rather close.

One of the photos showed both at a party together, while the other featured Simmons with his hands on Reveles' shoulders as she sat at a table. But Simmons said Oliveira's version couldn't be further from the truth. "That's just very silly," he told Today that month. "Teresa Reveles has been with me for 30 years. It's almost like we're a married couple." And Oliveira claims she hopes to benefit as if that's her actual legal status.

"Teresa believes she's his unofficial wife and because she's tolerated him for 30 years, she believes that she deserves to inherit everything," he said. But Oliveira isn't the only one who thinks Reveles keeps his loved ones away. "Teresa did turn me away several times," a friend told the New York Daily News (via Radar) in March 2016. Simmons doesn't deny he's cut people out. During a 2015 welfare check, Simmons told police he'd decided to keep only the people who actually cared for him in his life, TMZ reported.

While the reason Richard Simmons left the spotlight is unknown to the public, a leading hypothesis points to a purported health condition. According to the 2022 documentary, "TMZ Investigates: What Really Happened to Richard Simmons," Simmons has been struggling with the painful consequences of a congenital disorder that affects one of his legs. "He was born without a full set of bones in his foot and it causes physical and emotional problems," TMZ managing editor Fabian Garcia said (via New York Post).

Simmons' childhood weight struggles added more stress on his knee and foot, causing lifelong issues that culminated with the need for knee-replacement surgery around the time of his disappearance in 2014. Doctors then gave him the news he'd also need surgery on his left knee, which he refused. "The prospect of surgery, of becoming sedentary, caused Richard to sink into a deep depression," TMZ's documentary revealed (via Fox News). That's not what Simmons had envisioned for himself. "He wanted to be remembered as vibrant and healthy — not an elderly man with medical problems," the documentary added.

In a 2016 interview with ET, Simmons addressed the effects of the surgery, explaining he needed to retreat and take care of himself. "I had a knee injury, so I had a knee replacement, which was very difficult for me... I have really just been taking it easy, staying at home, working out in my gym and doing the things I haven't done in a very long time," he said.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.