ABC teased a rare upcoming interview with Richard Simmons’ house manager, who is expected to share details of his final moments — and a secret from the fitness star’s life that saw him retreat from public life for a decade.
In a trailer for the upcoming special “The Mystery of Richard Simmons: A Diane Sawyer Special” — which is set to air May 12 — the fitness guru’s longtime house manager, Teresa Reveles, said it’s “the first time [she’s] spoken about” his death and his disappearance from the spotlight from 2014 until his 2024 death.
A narrator is heard asking, “And what does Richard’s live-in housekeeper — the last person to see him alive — now say happened behind closed doors?”
Reveles then said, “When I came here, then I saw him on the floor.”
The special will also feature interviews with Richard’s brother Lenny Simmons and his wife Cathy Simmons, as well as with longtime manager Michael Catalano and close friend Rosie O’Donnell — and glimpses inside the fitness legend’s Hollywood home.
In the trailer, which promises to “pull back the curtain on the mystery,” Cathy and Lenny told Sawyer that the TV star “had to be in a lot of pain” prior to his death at age 76 from a tragic fall and underlying heart disease.
O’Donnell told Sawyer in the clip that she felt Richard “loved people back to health.”
Simmons died July 13, 2024, at his home — just one day after his 76th birthday.
Reveles — who worked for Simmons for 35 years and called herself his “companion” — previously spoke out about his death, just weeks after the tragic loss, saying that he “died happy.”
She found Simmons in his bedroom after the fatal fall, telling People in July 2024, “When I saw him, he looked peaceful.”
Reveles also recalled connecting with the beloved TV personality through an agency in 1986, and his subsequent prediction that they’d continue on for years to come.
“I showed up in here and Richard says to me, ‘Where are your clothes? Where is your big suitcase?’ I said, ‘I just bring the little suitcase because I only try this for two weeks. If you don’t like me or you don’t like my cooking, then I can’t work.’”
She recalled him telling her, “you are never going to leave. We are going to be together until I die.”
Reveles added, “And you know what? His dream came true. He knew somehow.”
Simmons eerily told People the day before he died that he was “grateful” to be alive.
“I feel good! I am grateful that I’m here, that I am alive for another day,” he told the outlet in an interview published July 12, 2024.
“I’ll spend my birthday doing what I do every day, which is to help people.”
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