Richard Simmons’ $5 Million Mansion Where He Died to Be Sold by Family Amid Estate Battle

Richard Simmons’ longtime housekeeper, Teresa Muro, revealed the late fitness guru’s brother plans to sell off his $5 million mansion and personal property, In Touch can exclusively report.

According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Teresa is fighting Richard’s brother Leonard Simmons over control of Richard’s estate.

Teresa, who lived with Richard for 35 years, said Leonard had her sign paperwork while she grieved Richard’s death. She said the paperwork gave up her rights to serve as cotrustee of Richard’s estate alongside Leonard.

In her new filing, Teresa said after cutting her out, Leonard started working with Richard’s estranged manager to “pillage Richard’s assets and legacy.”

Teresa claimed Leonard “admits he is actively preparing to dispose of numerous of Richard’s personal effects, as he retained a real estate agent to market Richard’s home where all of his personal effects were maintained and has made arrangements with an auction house to view and appraise Richard’s personal effects so they can be sold.”

She added, “Leonard further admits that he may unilaterally choose to sell certain items in the immediate term if he so chooses and has refused to confirm he will seek Teresa’s consent before doing so.”

Regarding Leonard’s alleged partnership with Richard’s estranged manager, Teresa said, “During the final years of his life, Richard unequivocally cut ties with [the manager] because he was exploiting Richard’s celebrity without proper authorization and compensation. In fact, Richard stated that he ‘would rather die’ than participate in another project with him.”

Teresa added, “Richard also flatly rejected [the manager’s] attempts to work on a documentary about Richard’s life, proclaiming that he would never work on a project with [the manager] again. Leonard has openly defied Richard’s explicit instructions by getting back into business with [the manager].”

Richard died on July 13 at the age of 76. Teresa said she found Richard’s “lifeless body on his bedroom floor” of his four-bedroom, five-bathroom, 4,119 square-foot property.

“Teresa was completely distraught by the sudden and unexpected passing of the man who had been her best friend for over three decades,” her lawyer said in the recent petition.

Her lawyer said, “As of the time of the filing of this petition, the Trust has refused and continues to refuse to acknowledge Teresa as a successor Co-Trustee.”

Teresa asked the court to suspend Leonard’s powers as trustee until a decision is made on her petition. In recent filings, Leonard slammed Teresa’s accusations.

“Since voluntarily declining to serve as Co-Trustee, Teresa has demonstrated strong animosity towards Leonard, for reasons that he does not understand, and having the two of them serve as Co-Trustees would be counter-productive and almost certainly lead to the appointment of a corporate trustee,” his motion read.

In addition, his lawyer said, “Teresa has her own home, she had a room in Richard’s house that she refused to vacate after his death. When she finally did leave, 76 days later, she took almost $1 million of Richard’s jewelry and other valuable pieces of fine art, which she has refused to return.”

Leonard also denied he was working on a documentary with Richard’s estranged manager.

He said, “This is false. The film crew was at the house in connection with a documentary about Richard being prepared by Diane Sawyer and ABC News, and [the manager] let them into the house. The documentary was begun before Richard died.”

The case is ongoing.