Headlong: Missing Richard Simmons · Topic / Pineapple Street Media / Dan Taberski

The Maid and the Masseuse

March 1, 2017·26 min·2 clips

Mauro Oliveira visited Richard Simmons three months after his disappearance and found him trembling and weak — and feared he might be suicidal.

The publicist says no. Dan calls Tom Esty, who has represented Richard for 25 years, and gets a firm answer before the story has even moved. Richard will not participate. So Dan follows the traces Richard has left behind, including Facebook posts that seem new until he explains they are old. That detail lands. It makes the public version of Richard feel cared for, but distant enough to feel strange. Then Teresa enters. A guest describes Richard's maid as central, complicated, and hard to separate from the mystery around him. He calls her a witch. Dan pauses there, because the word crowds out almost everything else. Then he pulls the story back to plain facts. Richard's maid has been turned into something almost mythic, and the episode has to work its way back to ordinary life. She worked for him 27 years. The guest says Teresa lived there five days a week, kept a condo in Hollywood, and looked forward to leaving. Money and company both hang over the story. In the guest's view, Teresa stayed partly for money, while Richard stayed partly because she was there. Richard called her beautiful on television. Asked about his private life, he answered by talking about Teresa, his Dalmatians, and the home life most people never saw. Even friends are unsure. They admit the relationship can be picked apart forever, which is another way of saying nobody fully has the truth. The details get odder. Chanel, breakfast, coffee, a housekeeper described almost like a spouse, and Dan letting the tape run long enough for discomfort to show up. Nothing clicks neatly into place. By the closing credits, the show is still asking for Richard stories, still thanking the people who trusted Dan, and still keeping Richard's old command to love yourself close to the investigation.

As heard by us

A character-driven celebrity mystery built from routine, rumor, and unanswered questions.

Episode 3, The Maid and the Masseuse, stays with Richard Simmons through recycled Facebook posts, a publicist who refuses interviews, and Teresa, his housekeeper of 27 years. Dan Taberski does not rush past those details.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a celebrity mystery built from social posts, housekeeper lore, and stubborn silence.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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