Richard Simmons' longtime caretaker believes he died of 'a heart attack'
Richard Simmons "looked peaceful" when his longtime companion, Teresa Reveles, found his body on the day that he died at home in Los Angeles. He was 76.
Richard Simmons' caretaker, Teresa Reveles, found the fitness icon in his bedroom on the day that he died.
Reveles, who worked for Simmons for nearly four decades, is still very much grieving the death of her friend.
"I can’t stop crying. I still can’t believe what happened," she told People magazine.
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"When I saw him, he looked peaceful," Reves said before noting that his hands were balled into fists. "That’s why I know it was a heart attack."
She added, "I had a heart attack a few years ago, and my hands did the same."
Reveles denied the notion that she was ever his housekeeper, and instead oversaw his Beverly Hills home and cooking responsibilities. "His housekeeper is someone else, she’s worked here for 40 years," she said.
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She began working with Simmons in 1986 through an agency placement, and remembered Richard questioning, "Where is your big suitcase?"
Teresa was hesitant to pack heavily in fear that Simmons wouldn't like her cooking. She recalled Simmons telling her, "Teresa come in, you are never going to leave. We are going to be together until I die."
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Reveles added, "And you know what? His dream came true. He knew somehow."
Despite missing her friend, Reveles insisted on keeping his memory alive. "I want to celebrate Richard. He died happy," she said. Reveles was his "companion;" they lived and traveled together, and often ate meals together.
"If I was in the kitchen and then I come into the living room, he would hide and jump out, being so loud that he would scare me to death," she recalled. "I’d start screaming, ‘Richard, you almost killed me!’" He’d just laugh and say, ‘Teresa, almost doesn't count.'"
She said that Simmons knew his fans felt he had "disappeared" in the final years of his life. One reason he left the public eye was because "he could not exercise" due to issues with his knees.
"He could not teach his class," she said, before remembering Richard telling her, "Teresa, my knees hurt."
In addition, the Emmy Award-winning star wasn't happy with his looks.
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"He thought he looked too old," she said. "He did not want anyone to see him. But Richard looked the same. OK, maybe a little older, like me, because we have to age. A little less hair. But he weighed the same, mostly. He was not as skinny."
The day before he died, on his 76th birthday, Teresa said Richard's leg was hurting from a fall the previous day.
She told him, "Let’s go to the hospital. Maybe you broke your leg." Simmons protested, "No, Teresa. Not on my birthday. Why we don't wait and we do it in the morning."
"But in the morning it was too late," Reveles said.
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Simmons died at his home in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 13, one day after his birthday. He was 76. His cause of death is being investigated by the Department of Medical Examiner's Office.
"Officers responded to a death investigation," Los Angeles Police Department officials confirmed to Fox News Digital. "There is no foul play."
His official cause of death has been deferred, meaning that an investigation, as well as additional testing, is needed before a conclusive explanation for his death can be given.
"Other significant conditions" were listed as a cause of death, and Simmons' case status was still "open." His place of death was listed as "residence."