“No one is holding me in my house as a hostage.” -Richard Simmons refutes recent reports in interview w/Savannah https://t.co/hkksIrz315
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 14, 2016
Not a worry in the world. Beloved fitness guru Richard Simmons broke his silence in two separate interviews with the Today show and Entertainment Tonight, after it was reported this past Saturday, March 12, that he was being held hostage inside his home.
Simmons, 67, told the Today show on Monday, March 14, in a pre-recorded phone conversation, that his disappearance has been entirely voluntary, while he told ET on Sunday night that the New York Daily News‘ reporting — that he was being held hostage in his Hollywood Hills home — was “very hurtful.”
In the Daily News’ piece, a friend claimed that it seemed Simmons’ housekeeper, Teresa Reveles, was controlling his life. “No one is holding me in my house as a hostage,” he told Savannah Guthrie on Sunday. “You know, I do what I want to do as I’ve always done, so people should sort of just believe what I have to say because, like, I’m Richard Simmons!”
Simmons added of Reveles: “That’s just very silly. Teresa Reveles has been with me for 30 years. It’s almost like we’re a married couple . . . I just sort of wanted to be a loner for a while.”
Simmons has stepped out of the spotlight and remained reclusive for two years. “Right now, I just sort of wanna take care of me,” he told the Today show. “I just really don’t wanna do anything. I don’t wanna be traveling anymore… it’s taken a toll on me.”
He insisted in his other interview with ET on Sunday night: “I am not kidnapped, I am just in my house right now. No one should be worried about me. The people that surround me are wonderful people who take great care of me.”
As previously reported, the Sweatin’ to the Oldies star had been M.I.A. for nearly two years now, and, the Daily News claimed that close friends have become concerned that he was being held hostage at his Hollywood Hills home.
Addressing the report, Simmons told ET that while he appreciated the concern, the truth is he’s just decided to take some time out of the spotlight. “It was time for me to take some time to be by myself. For the last 40 years I have been traveling, teaching classes, and I had a knee injury, so I had a knee replacement, which was very difficult for me,” he revealed. “I have really just been taking it easy, staying at home, working out in my gym and doing the things I haven’t done in a very long time.”
Meanwhile, the bubbly workout star holds nothing against those making the claims this past weekend. “All of those people that are worried . . . ” he said. “I love them with all my heart.”
Watch his interview with the Today show above.
