Richard Simmons has spoken out, for the first time in two years, following a report in the New York Daily News saying that he might be held against his will in his Hollywood Hills mansion. Here’s the intro to the compelling story called, The Haunted Twilight of Richard Simmons,

Richard Simmons opened his front door, frail and trembling. Mauro Oliveira, a visual artist who was also Simmons’ masseur and former assistant, greeted him on the front porch, concerned about his friend. After receiving an ominous phone call from Simmons, Oliveira had driven his truck to the Hollywood Hills, past the two metal gates that Simmons had left ajar for him, and into the driveway. He reached the porch through the white columns that recalled an antebellum Southern mansion, and past Simmons’ bronze statue of a regal Dalmatian.

Wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants, a gaunt Simmons led Oliveira through the foyer, and into the living room.

“Mauro, we can no longer see each other,” Simmons told him in a quiet, defeated voice.

It was April 2014. Oliveira, a 49-year-old from Brazil with the burly arms and trim physique of a gym rat and close-cropped black hair, had met Simmons 13 months earlier, and the two became fast friends. But he was catching a weird vibe lately, and hadn’t seen him in a while, before the then 65-year-old Simmons summoned him to the mansion, saying only that they needed to talk.

“What’s going on, Richard?” Oliveira asked. “Why are you saying that?”

“I don’t know,” Simmons replied. “I just want to be by myself, and I want to be in the house, and we’re never going to see each other again.”

Scary right? You can read the full story here. But Richard just told Entertainment Tonight by phone.

“I am not kidnapped. No one should be worried about me … The people that surround me are wonderful people who take great care of me.“

He went on to say that he’s “just been taking it easy,” “staying out home, working out” because he needed “some time to be by myself” after 40 years of relentless commitments and a “very difficult” knee-replacement surgery.

In another interview with NBC’s Today, Simmons added that his “health is “good” and that he takes regular walks and drives in addition to using the gym in his home.

“For all the people that were worrying about me, I want to tell them that I love them with my whole heart and soul and that not to worry, Richard’s fine. You haven’t seen the last of me. I’ll come back, and I’ll come back strong.“

That doesn’t really explain it all. Why do I think this isn’t what’s REALLY going on? Maybe I’ve seen too many movies…

(via NBC News)