Missing Exercise Guru Richard Simmons Confirms: 'No One is Holding Me Hostage!'

After being out of the public eye for the last several years, friends of exercise guru Richard Simmons have recently expressed concern that he was being held in his own home against his will. However in an interview that aired this morning on NBC's TODAY, the fitness expert explained his disappearance.

"No one is holding me in my house as a hostage,' Simmons told TODAY's Savannah Guthrie by phone Sunday evening. "You know, I do what I want to do as I've always done so people should sort of just believe what I have to say because like I'm Richard Simmons!"

Regarding the idea that his housekeeper, Teresa Reveles was controlling his life, Simmons insists, "That's just very silly. Teresa Reveles has been with me for 30 years. It's almost like we're a married couple." Listen to the interview below: