Two months after celebrity fitness guru Richard Simmons died suddenly on July 13, his brother, Leonard “Lenny” Simmons, and longtime house manager, Teresa Reveles, are fighting over his estate.
Reveles claims she was squeezed out from her co-trustee role by Lenny and his wife, Cathy, and wants to be reinstated. The couple says “Teresa’s greed” is “threaten[ing] to harm Richard’s incredible legacy.”
What just happened?
According to court documents obtained by Yahoo Entertainment, Reveles filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 25 to be reinstated as co-trustee of Richard’s estate.
In the filing, she says she was Richard’s best friend and live-in companion for nearly 36 years, and she was appointed as a co-trustee along with Lenny. When Richard died — from complications from recent falls — she alleges that Lenny and his wife hatched a “nefarious scheme” for “sole control” of the trust.
The day after Reveles discovered Richard dead, she claims Lenny and his wife, who hadn’t visited the aerobics king in over six years, arrived in Los Angeles and wanted to immediately discuss legal affairs. She was “distraught” and pushed back a meeting until July 18.
The scene outside of Richard’s Beverly Hills home on July 13, the day he was found dead by his housekeeper. (Highfive/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
The day of the meeting, the housekeeper claims Lenny told her that being a trustee was a big responsibility that required preparing a lot of paperwork for lawyers, and if “she made any mistake, she would lose part of her inheritance” as a beneficiary of the estate. In her “fragile emotional state,” having just been to a viewing of Richard’s body, Reveles signed the paperwork stripping her of her role as co-trustee, saying she didn’t realize she would have no say in decision-making.
Reveles claims she was “coerced and fraudulently induced to sign.” She was not shown a copy of the trust, didn’t have an attorney present and English isn’t her first language, according to the filing. As a result, she wants to be reinstated as co-trustee and, while that is pending, block Lenny from profiting from Richard’s image and likeness.
Reveles’s attorney did not respond to request for further comment about the filing.
How did Richard’s brother respond?
Tom Estey, a spokesperson for the Simmons family, shared a statement with Yahoo calling Reveles’s allegations “demonstrably false.”
“Richard’s message was always one of joy and positivity. He would be heartbroken to learn of Teresa’s greed and insulted that she would diminish their three decades of supposed friendship in such a public way,” it began. “Her actions threaten to harm Richard’s incredible legacy, which we are working hard to preserve.”
Richard inspired people to get moving with his “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” aerobics videos. He appeared on TV, in movies and wrote bestselling books. (Harry Langdon/Getty Images)
The statement continued, “Richard took impeccable care of Teresa and made sure even after his passing that she was well taken care of. She is a significant beneficiary of his will. She made an informed decision to decline to serve as co-trustee of the estate, which does not affect her status as a beneficiary at all.”
Further, Estey slammed Reveles for continuing to live in Richard’s home two months after his death, even though she has her own residence, accusing her of ”attempt[ing] to charge the estate for her living expenses.” Reveles is also accused of pitching a Netflix documentary about Richard that would be “hurtful” to his legacy.
The statement ended with: “When the court is apprised of the facts that already have been given to Teresa’s attorney, we are confident that the court will deny the petition.”
According to court records, a hearing will take place Dec. 4 at 8:30 a.m. at Stanley Mosk Courthouse in L.A.
What do we know about Richard’s death?
The one-of-a-kind TV personality — who was reclusive in his final years, leading to speculation about his well-being in podcasts (like 2017’s Missing Richard Simmons) and on social media — collapsed on the floor of his home on July 11. He spent the entire next day in bed. On July 13, Reveles found him unresponsive on the bedroom floor and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
His cause of death was determined to be the result of blunt traumatic injuries, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a press release on Aug. 22. The manner of death was ruled as an accident.
While Richard was everywhere in the ’70s and ’80s, at the end of his life, he was reclusive. He stayed close to home and closed his famed exercise studio, Slimmons. (Evan Hurd/Sygma via Getty Images)
Arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease, when the arteries harden and become narrow, was listed as a contributing condition. Prescription medications in his system did “not appear to have contributed to the cause of death,” it was noted.
At the time of Richard’s death, Lenny praised Reveles to People magazine, saying she was “extremely loyal and trustworthy. She loved my brother, and he loved her. We are blessed to have Teresa in our lives.”
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