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Richard Simmons is not being held hostage by his housekeeper: Police
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Speculation about the fitness guru’s well-being persists despite assurances that he is fine

As the Missing Richard Simmons podcast has renewed concerns about the well-being of America’s favorite fitness guru, the Los Angeles Police Department has again insisted that Richard Simmons is just fine and has voluntarily retreated from the public eye.

According to People magazine, the LAPD has done a wellness check on Simmons since the premiere of the popular podcast, though it is unclear exactly when or how many times the police have visited him at his home.

Detective Kevin Becker told People magazine that there is no indication Simmons is being held hostage by his housekeeper, which is one of the theories addressed in the podcast.

There was something about his housekeeper holding him hostage and not allowing people to see him and preventing him from making phone calls and it was all garbage and that’s why we went out to see him. None of it is true. The fact of the matter is we went out and talked to him he is fine, nobody is holding him hostage. He is doing exactly what he wants to do. If he wants to go out in public or see anybody he will do that.

“He is perfectly fine and he is very happy,” Becker added. “I don’t know what he is going to do, but right now he is doing what he wants to do and it is his business.”

The LAPD had previously visited Simmons’s home in response to an elder abuse call made by his former personal assistant and masseuse, who in a recent interview with Missing Richard Simmons maintained his accusations that Simmons’s maid, Teresa Reveles, is controlling his life and holding him hostage.

READ more: Is Richard Simmons really missing? 

In March of last year, Simmons addressed the hostage rumors himself when he called into the Today show to assure everyone that he was just fine.

 “No one is holding me in my house as a hostage,” Simmons told Today host Savannah Guthrie. “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!”
Still, not everyone is buying the assurances. Missing Richard Simmons podcast host Dan Taberski has spoken to numerous people in Richard’s life who feel like something must be wrong for him to become so reclusive for so long. And Taberski himself has said on the podcast that it doesn’t make sense to him that Simmons would hide out like this without telling any of the people who relied on his friendship that he needed to take a break.
With only two episodes remaining in the podcast, Taberski had not yet made contact with Simmons, but told the New York Post that he “hoped to end the podcast with a conversation with him.”
 Photo: Associated Press