Richard Simmons‘ longtime housekeeper — who’s rarely been seen and never spoken publicly — is addressing rumors about her kidnapping him, and also reveals … they were kind of a couple.
Teresa Reveles just did her first-ever TV interview, telling TODAY she never held Richard against his will, as had been alleged when he vanished from public life. She laughed off that theory, and instead joke, “No, I think he kidnapped me.”
Richard hired Teresa way back in 1988 and she moved in to his L.A. home … and she says he fell in love with her right away and told her, “No, you’re never going to leave me.”
Teresa says Richard, who died a year ago, was like a brother, father, friend, boyfriend … her “everything.”
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She says there was never any romantic or sexual aspect to their relationship, but she says Richard would kiss her all the time … and she kept a bunch of love letters he started writing her in 2023 after she was diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Although Richard’s a gay icon, he never spoke publicly about his sexual orientation … and Teresa says it’s not her place to speak about it either.
As for anyone thinking she and Richard had a strange relationship … Teresa said, “It’s their problem, you know? We were very happy. And the last 10 years was the most happy years.”
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Richard was a shut-in for the last 10 years of his life and Teresa says he disappeared from public life because he wasn’t happy about getting old, and wanted people to remember him for being full of life.
Teresa says she was the one who found Richard dead in his bedroom … recalling it as a crazy, sad day. She says he died happy, and in their 36 years together, she never saw him unhappy, mean or upset.
