By Christine Rendón, Dailymail.com
July 29, 2024 19:03, updated July 29, 2024 19:18
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Teresa Rebeles, Richard Simmons’ housekeeper and friend of 36 years, has broken her silence since his death at the age of 76 to share her memories of the fitness icon.
In an interview with People magazine, Reveles recalled meeting the fitness legend in 1986 after finding work through an agency.
“I can’t stop crying. I still can’t believe what happened,” a tearful Rebeles told People magazine in an interview a few days after Simmons’ funeral. When the magazine asked if she wanted to speak another time, she insisted, “No, I want to celebrate Richard. He died happy.”
Reveles was the one who found Simmons after his death, and she believes he died of a heart attack, with his hands clasped together.
“When I saw him, he looked calm,” she said, “so I knew it was a heart attack. I had a heart attack a few years ago, and my hands did too.”
“Theresa, I can’t fall. My leg hurts so bad,” Reveles remembers Simmons saying after falling the morning of his birthday.
She remembers responding: “Let’s go to the hospital. You might have broken your leg.”
“No, Teresa, not on my birthday. Let’s do it in the morning, don’t wait,” she recalls him replying.
“But by morning it was too late,” Reveles said.
In a People magazine profile, she corrected the misconception that she was Simmons’ housekeeper and described herself as his “companion.”
“His housekeeper is a different person and has been working here for 40 years,” she explained. “August 9th is our 36th wedding anniversary,” she added.
When Reveles first met Simmons, she recalled that after she showed up at his house with a small amount of luggage, he predicted their friendship.
“When I got here Richard asked me, ‘Where are your clothes? Where are your big suitcases?’ And I said, ‘I just brought a small suitcase. I’m only going to try it for two weeks. If you don’t like me or if you don’t like my cooking, I can’t work,'” she said.
“Theresa, come in. You’re never leaving. We’ll be together until I die.”
“And guess what? His dream came true. And somehow he knew it.”
She also recalled a prank Richard played on her: “I’d be in the kitchen and I’d come into the living room and he’d jump out of hiding and scare me really loudly. I’d start screaming, ‘Richard, you almost killed me!'” But Richard would just laugh and reply, ‘Nearly killed doesn’t count, Teresa.’
Simmons died on July 13, one day after his 76th birthday.
Simmons’ tentative cause of death was released by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
A statement said Simmons died of “apparently natural causes.”
“On July 13, 2024 at 9:55 a.m., the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a suspected fatality incident in the 1300 block of N. Belfast Drive,” Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Eric Scott told Entertainment Tonight.
“One ambulance arrived on scene and found a 76-year-old man who was pronounced dead by firefighters and paramedics at the scene from apparent natural causes, so transport to hospital was not required,” he concluded.
A tentative cause of death has been released, but it is not a final determination as to how Simmons died as the incident is currently under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police officials confirmed to People magazine that the fitness professional’s death, which occurred at his Los Angeles home, is under further investigation and that the case has been postponed pending further investigation and testing by the coroner’s office, the paper reported.
The media outlet said the review could take up to three months before a formal ruling is made.
His death was reportedly without criminal intent: “The LAPD is not investigating as if there was any criminal activity at this time,” a police source told People magazine earlier this month.
He was buried last week and, in exclusive photos obtained by DailyMail.com, his grave was piled high with pink roses.
His staff published the last photograph of Simmons in X magazine on July 20, showing the white-haired star in his orange NASA uniform.
“From Richard’s staff: Hello everyone. Richard has been working hard on this post for you all,” it began.
“He had a bunch of ideas and he would go ahead and work through them, then go back and make changes to each one before posting them, until he got it just how he wanted it.”
His staff member continued, “You know, at the weekend, he just shares a photo with a caption. He always has a photo selected for the coming weekend and a caption written by Friday.”
“So here’s a post that Richard was planning to share with you last Sunday and I thought you might like to see.”
At the end of X’s post, the fitness guru staffer added: “Here’s the post Richard has planned for you on Sunday 14th July 2024.”
Richard was seen posing in a bright orange NASA uniform with greying hair and standing in front of a colorful wall.
The caption he planned to accompany the photo was, “Let me take you to the moon and look at the stars. Love, Richard.”
Exclusive photos obtained by DailyMail.com earlier this month show the late star’s grave covered in pink roses following his burial.
Simmons was buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Funeral Home, where stars such as Kirk Douglas and Marilyn Monroe are buried.
