Happy retirement, Zoila Chavez!
Interior designer and house-flipper Jeff Lewis, star of the Bravo reality show Flipping Out, has revealed that his housekeeper has retired after 18 years. Chavez had starred with Lewis on both Flipping Out and spinoff Interior Therapy With Jeff Lewis. The two also appeared with Pulos on Cheer Perfection.
"Zoila retired about three months ago," Lewis told People Thursday. "She stayed the first six months we had the baby, which is amazing. You know, she's wanted to retire for two years now, and she's been with me for 18 years. I just begged her, begged her, begged her — 'Please stay. I need help with the baby. I need help with this transition.' And she stayed as long as she could."
Lewis and his longtime partner Gage Edwards are parents to 9-month-old daughter Monroe.
Lewis told People Chavez flew to Nicaragua to be with her family for several weeks and then returned to the U.S. and is staying with her daughter in Los Angeles.
"Physically, after doing that kind of work for all of these years, it really takes its toll," he said. "She's 68 years old. She looks 10 years younger, because I gave her all that plastic surgery. But she's tired and she's ready to go."
In 2011, Lewis paid for Chavez to undergo several cosmetic procedures—a face lift, an eye lift, a neck lift, Botox and other fillers and a chemical peel. She also had many moles lasered off.
"I'm so happy I had my surgery and every day I say, 'Thank you, Jeffrey Lewis," Chavez wrote on her Bravo blog. "I never knew Jeff was there the whole time until I saw the show. BAD BOY, Jeffrey Lewis."