Richard Simmons’ Brother Has Now Spoken Out About The Fitness Star

The strange case of Richard Simmons‘ disappearance just keeps getting more and more complex.

Rumors of the Weight-Loss Guru going missing date back several months, but recently a podcast titled Missing Richard Simmons shot up the iTunes Podcast charts for purporting, among other possibilities, that Simmons was being held captive by his live-in housekeeper.

Many have weighed in on the curious situation, and now a member of Simmons’ own family has made a statement.

Richard Simmons’ brother, Lenny Simmons, spoke to reporters and said, “I talked to him on Sunday, he was doing great. He was asking about our renovations to our home. And we had just gone to see the Broadway musical, Beautiful. We talk every Sunday. He calls me and we have a great conversation and then he talks to my wife. He probably talks to my wife longer than he talks to me.”

Lenny went on to say that Richard is “content” not being in the spotlight, adding “After all those years, I don’t know how he did it. He was on 24/7, at least. …People were always calling him and he was always good enough to want to talk to them.”

He also spoke about how he and his wife visited Richard during the holidays this past year. “We were out there for Christmas this year — like we are every year — and we had a great time with him. But he did have a cold, so he really wasn’t going out that much that day,” he stated.

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Regarding the rumors about Richard’s housekeeper holding him hostage in his own house, Lenny said, “Teresa is a very lovely lady. She has been a good friend of my brother for over 20 some odd years. It stresses me to hear that people think that she is holding him hostage or that she is mean. She isn’t. She is a very nice person.”

There’s no telling what kind of negative impact Lenny’s statements might have on the Missing Richard Simmons podcast if any, but it can’t be good for them that after only 4 episodes in such a close source is debunking a lot of their base claims.

Lenny ended the conversation by saying, “My brother certainly deserves his vacation. I certainly cannot fault him for wanting to do that. I would just hope people [can] be a little bit more respectful and realize that he’s worked hard and he still loves people — but he needs some time for himself.”

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• New Details Surface About Richard Simmons’ Strange ‘Disappearance’
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[H/T: ET Online]