Richard Simmons' housekeeper of 35 years breaks silence: 'He died happy' (Exclusive)

The final days of Richard Simmons' life were filled with fun, including feeding the neighborhood skunks, according to his longtime caretaker.

Every night, a family of skunks would show up at Simmons' back door in West Hollywood, California, and he would hand-feed them peanuts. Simmons got so close to the animals that they got used to him and could touch his nose, said Teresa Reveles, who lived with Simmons for 35 years. And they did.

“I told him, 'Richard! They might have rabies!'” Reveles told People magazine in an exclusive interview just days after the funeral for the fitness icon, Simmons, who died on July 13, one day after turning 76.

Simmons had lived a reclusive life in recent years and was a very different person to the Richard Simmons that fans knew and worshiped.

Simmons grew up in New Orleans and struggled with weight issues from an early age (he weighed 268 pounds when he graduated from high school in 1966). The fitness showman first rose to fame in Los Angeles, where he opened LaFarge and the Anatomy Asylum in 1974, a combination health food restaurant and exercise studio.

It was the start of a fitness empire that includes nine books (two of which are bestsellers), the Deal-a-Meal and Food Movers diet plans, infomercials and smash-hit workout videos (including “Sweatin' to the Oldies,” which sold more than 22 million copies). general Hospitalhosted his own talk show in the '80s, with popular guests including David Letterman and Rosie O'Donnell.

With her trademark crown of curls, rhinestone-covered tank top, dolphin shorts and tube socks, Simmons was a frenetic, high-kicking, arm-swinging icon and a beacon of hope for millions of fans.

Over the years, Rebeles has often, and incorrectly, been referred to as his housekeeper: “His housekeeper was someone else, and she worked here. 40 Revelles, 73, did the shopping for Simmons, tended to her house and garden and cooked for her.^Number 36 is our^Number “It's an anniversary,” she said in her first interview.

During an interview with PEOPLE magazine, she began sobbing: “I can't stop crying. I still can't believe what happened.” Asked if she wanted to speak later, she replied: “No, I want to congratulate Richard. He died happy.”

It was Reveles who found Simmons in his bedroom. “He seemed calm when I saw him,” she said, but his hands were clenched into fists. “That's how I knew it was a heart attack. I had a heart attack a few years ago and my hands were clenched into fists the same way.”

Reveles began working for Simmons through an agency in 1986. “I came here and Richard said, 'Where are your clothes? Where are your big suitcases?' I said, 'I'm just going to try you out for two weeks, so I only brought a small suitcase. If you don't like me or you don't like my cooking, I can't work here.'” Simmons told her, “Come in, Theresa. You're never leaving here. We're going to be together until the day I die.”

“And guess what happened? His dream came true. And somehow he knew it.”

She calls herself Simmons' “bro,” and to listen to her, they were in many ways a platonic couple: They lived together, they traveled together (he took her to Venice many times), they ate every meal together (he loved her lemon chicken before she became a vegetarian, and Mexican stew and green beans after). They worked out. He left notes for her around the house and under her pillow. They joked around. But they weren't always together.

“I was in the kitchen and I came into the living room and he came out of hiding and he was really loud and scared me. I started screaming, 'Richard, you almost killed me!'” He just laughed and said, 'Theresa, largely “That doesn't count.”

The two were together for nearly four decades, but it was over the last decade that their lives began to intertwine in many ways. “Teresa was very loyal and trustworthy,” Simmons' brother, Renee, told People magazine in an exclusive interview. “She loved her brother and he loved her. We're so blessed to have had Teresa in our lives.”

The last decade of Simmons' life was one in which he remained a mystery to fans — many said he disappeared — and his reclusive life became fodder for podcasts, tabloid reports and social media stories.

Reveles remembers when Simmons left public office in 2014. “Prior to that, he wasn't home. He'd come home only occasionally for the weekend, and then he'd have to come back on Tuesdays, and then he'd be gone for 10 days, come back home to get some clothes, go see his dog for two days, and so on.”

Reveles said she misses her six Dalmatians, all of whom are Gone with the Wind, People who have died over the years.

In his final interview, two days before his death, Simmons spoke about his 35 years of traveling and teaching exercise classes more than 200 days a year. “My body was telling me it was time to retire,” he told People magazine exclusively. He knew what his fans were thinking. “I know people miss me.”

Simmons said he felt like he had “disappeared” and that he knew people thought he was a “recluse.” He insisted that he had never disappeared, and that he spent his days calling and emailing fans. He went on to say that, although he was in disguise, he was in fact leaving the house frequently. His brother, Lenny Simmons, and Rebeles claim this is true.

“We would go out in our cars, or walk around the neighborhood,” Reveles said, “but sometimes we'd be on the street and no one would know him, because he didn't talk.” Reveles said he was wearing a mask and a wig, and he also wore glasses.

One of the reasons Simmons left public office, according to Reveles, was her knee problems. “I couldn't work out. I couldn't do my classes. 'Teresa, my knee hurts.'” Simmons had had one knee replacement and needed another, Reveles said. Finally, in 2014, Simmons told Reveles that she couldn't jump anymore and “I think it's time to quit.”

“When he said that I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me. I can't do that.' But he said, 'I want to be Richard. If I can't be Richard…' Celebrities say, 'When you can't be yourself, you have to quit.' So he did.”

He also didn't like the way he looked.

“He thought he looked old,” she says. “He didn't want anyone to look at him.” She laughs at that familiar moment of insecurity. “But Richard looked the same. Maybe a little older, like me, but we've got to age. He had a little less hair. But he weighed the same. He wasn't skinny.”

Simmons reportedly repeatedly said, “I don't want to be seen. I'm not that beautiful anymore, Teresa.”

After Simmons retired from public life and his fitness studio closed in 2016, the spotlight began to shift to her. She knows what was being said about her. “They were saying crazy things, like I was locking him in my house, but that was never true. The media was following me everywhere, but I never talked to them.”

Tabloid photographers yelled at her, and she tried to fight back: “They called me a f****** bitch. [tracking device] He got under my car so he could follow me.”

She saw the same vehicle following her multiple times, and in 2019 she went to a repair shop and the police. two A tracking device was found underneath her car, and Reveles said the level of sophistication suggested whoever planted it deep inside her engine was “very wealthy.”

In the final days of Simmons' life, she said, he was doing what he wanted to do: calling fans and responding to emails; taking part in an ABC documentary about his life and scheduled an interview with Diane Sawyer; writing a Broadway musical based on his life; and, two days before his death, giving his first interview in 10 years to People magazine.

Later that day he fell and was bedridden. On the morning of his birthday he said, “Teresa, I can't fall. My leg hurts so bad.”

Rebeles told him, “Let's go to the hospital. You might have broken your leg.” He told her, “No, Teresa. Not on my birthday. Let's do it in the morning.” She paused, then said, “But it was too late by morning.”

Currently, Rebeles lives in Simmons' house, which was also her home, and plans to move to her own home in Mexico. “Everything happened the way he wanted it to happen. He wanted to die first, and he did. And guess what? I'm very happy because Richard was very happy indeed. He died very happy.”

She learned that Simmons had purchased two adjacent cemeteries, one for her, and although she initially resisted the idea, thinking she should be buried with her parents, she now intends to be buried with him.

“Richard adopted me many years ago and he became like a father to me. He loved me before I loved him. He gave me beautiful jewelry. Every time he gave me something, at first I was like, 'He doesn't know me! Why did he do this? Why did he do that?'”

When Simmons' mother died, he returned home from New Orleans, Rebeles recalled, and he said, “Teresa, this is the first ring I bought for my mother when I got my first check, and I want to give it to you.”

A few days before Simmons died, he surprised Rebeles with a diamond pin badge as an early anniversary gift.

“Why?” Reveles asked Simmons. “Our anniversary isn't in a few weeks. It's right around the corner.”

“Because I want to do it now. Look, Theresa, it makes almost no sense.”