Richard Simmons’ brother Leonard Simmons told a judge that certain personal items of the late entertainer’s are missing, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Leonard dropped the bombshell as he fought Richard’s longtime housekeeper Teresa Muro’s request to temporarily suspend his powers as trustee of Richard’s estate.
In his filing, Leonard said he has been unable to locate “song lyrics that [Richard] wrote for a Broadway play he was working on and other handwritten notes for social media to be posted the following week.” He did not accuse Teresa of taking the items.
As In Touch previously reported, Richard left behind a will that appointed Teresa and Leonard as cotrustees of his estate.
Richard died on July 13 at the age of 76. Months later, Teresa filed a petition in court claiming Leonard and others — while she was grieving — convinced her to sign paperwork that gave up her rights to serve as cotrustee.
She said she had no idea what she was signing.
Teresa asked that the paperwork be thrown out and she be put back as cotrustee.
In a recent motion, Teresa, who lived with Richard for 36 years, accused Leonard of making decisions that Richard would not have been pleased with. She claimed Leonard started working with Richard’s estranged manager on a documentary.
Her motion read, “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.”
Her lawyer added, “It appears that Leonard is actively preparing to dispose of numerous of Richard’s personal effects, as he has retained a real estate agent to market Richard’s home where all of his personal effects were maintained and has likely made arrangements to remove Richard’s personal effects from the premises so it can be marketed. Leonard is thus likely also making arrangements to imminently sell, donate, or otherwise dispose of Richard’s personal effects without Teresa’s input, as was envisioned by Richard in the Trust.”
In response, Leonard denied that Teresa was tricked into signing paperwork removing herself as cotrusee.
He said he believed a third party was behind her attempt to regain power in the estate.
Leonard also accused Teresa of taking $1 million worth of Richard’s jewelry and fine art after his death. He said she has yet to tell him if she plans to return it.
In his new filing, Leonard objected to his powers being suspended. He denied Teresa’s claims he was “pillaging” Richard’s assets and legacy. He also denied Richard was estranged from the manager in question.
He said, “[Teresa’s] characterization of [Richard’s] relationship with [the manager] is false. [Richard] and [the manager] were not estranged. Some of the emails that [Teresa] presents to the court are several years old, and [Teresa] fails to inform the Court that in 2024 – the year he died – [Richard] made favorable comments about [the manager].” Leonard denied he was working on a documentary.
He said Diane Sawyer is working on a special about Richard that Richard had approved of before his death.
He argued, “{Teresa] states that she has no objection to the sale of [Richard’s] house, but before the house can be sold, the property needs to be removed from the house, which [Teresa] is seeking to prevent the Trustee from doing. Unless the trustee can remove and store the property, the house cannot be sold.”
Leonard continued, “[Richard] had a significant collection of fine art, which includes a variety of glassware and hundreds of collectible dolls. Before [Richard’s] house can be put on the market, that art must be removed from the house and stored. The art collection is fragile, so it will take a significant amount of time and effort to remove it and store it. [Teresa] seeks to prevent him from doing this.”
He added, “[Teresa’s] Petition has thus thrown the administration of the Trust into chaos.” Teresa has yet to respond to the allegations.
