Theresa Roemer, 56, was born on a ranch in Nebraska. She grew up with three siblings in a simple, small-town life, a far cry from her vivid, glamorous life. The sports enthusiast soon became a star basketball player in junior high school. “I turned down a sports scholarship to Black Hills State University (in South Dakota),” she explained, owing to her romance with her first husband. After the marriage went kaput, the fitness freak reemerged as the general manager of a health club. By 1995, Roemer had worked several jobs and saved enough to buy her first gym. The U.S. Open title holder for Body Building in 1999 became a businesswoman eventually in the same field with a thriving company called Body by Design.
Theresa dedicates her time today to motivational speaking, book writing, selling real estate, and running her women’s clothing brand, NI30D Athletics. “I was a waitress, a lifeguard, a sales clerk; I became an aerobics instructor and eventually had my chain of gyms. I became a self-made millionaire. I know the value of a dollar. Even now, I have a clothing line and a line of candles, and I flip houses. I don’t know how to not work.”
The colossal closet that got Roemer worldwide attention-
While we don’t have an exact number, it is a no-brainer that not many people have a $1 million closet. The few who do make news, and so did Theresa Roemer. By 2000, she became a self-made millionaire by selling her booming business, Body by Design. In 2002 she met her husband, Lamar Roemer.
It was in 2012 that Theresa and her husband moved to a mansion in the Woodlands, an exclusive part of Houston, and the veritable ‘closet fit for a goddess’ was born. “That’s when the closet became the closet, “shared Theresa. She added, “A lot of guys put their identity into a car. For me, I think a closet is a direct reflection of a woman, so I have always taken pride in my closets, no matter how big or small. When we moved in 2012, I said, ‘Now, it’s time to build the closet of my dreams.”
What does one of the world’s most enormous closet contain?
Too big to be dubbed a closet, Theresa Roemer’s she-cave is a sprawling 3,000 square-foot, three-story palatial space modeled after a Neiman Marcus showroom that took a cool $500,000 to construct. Theresa values her precious space, so much that she doesn’t let anyone else clean her multi-million closet. In addition to housing the best luxury brands, jewelry, and clothes, the space also includes a champagne bar. ”The third-floor houses all my furs and big hats; you come down the spiral staircase to the second floor, which is where I get my hair and make-up done, it also houses all the shoes from Louis Vuitton and Gucci, to my tennis and work out gear,’ the YouTuber said.
She continued, “Then you come down a floating staircase, which is just magical, and the first floor is where you pick out your jewelry and bags.” Clearly, Theresa revels in this safe and ultra-fashionable space she created for herself. “It started years ago when I had a closet party, and all the girls came over and they said, “I just wish it was bigger,”‘ she stated. ’Since then, it’s just been getting bigger and bigger and bigger, it’s like a ”she cave.’
The best place to get a peek inside the closet is on Theresa’s Instagram account where she regularly shares glimpses of her luxurious nuggets. She has amassed nearly half a million followers on the platform too.
Her closet was raided, and the thief filed a police complaint-
Roemer’s closet is a bed of roses with a few thorns- a robbery in 2014! The thief took advantage of the night Theresa and her husband failed to turn on their home’s security system. While the burglar did get his hands on a massive collection of niceties, what followed was unanticipated. The dismal raider reported to the Houston police that some of Theresa’s stolen items were fake.
He took off with Roemer’s high-end jewelry and three large Birkin bags worth $60,000 each. The complete haul was undoubtedly more than $1 million, including diamonds, watches, and a one-of-a-kind 136-carat emerald. The tow included some irreplaceable objects of immense sentimental importance, a silver locket containing a lock of hair from Roemer’s son, Michael, who died in a Wyoming car crash in 2006.
The thief tried his luck by approaching Roemer with a New York City-based disposable phone – and a voice modulator, ‘I contacted Theresa Roemer and explained to her that her items were fake,’ the person reportedly told The Press. ‘I requested over half a million dollars to return her items and not expose her to the news. During the meet, it seemed as if she contacted authorities. The deal never went through. I’m following through with my threat.’ To this, Theresa stated matter-of-factly, “He claims that whatever it is that’s in there is fake. Well, you know, if you walk into any one woman’s closet there’s gonna be valuable things, and there’s gonna be costume things, and there’s gonna be vintage things,” she said.
She combines philanthropy and fashion-
Theresa identifies the buzz her million-dollar she-cave creates and doesn’t hesitate to use the $1 million asset and the curiosity around it to give back in significant ways. “I hold charity events in there all the time,” she shared. “Women will pay a lot of money to hang out in my closet. For $100, they can come to my (17,000-square-foot) house, explore the closet, have their picture taken, drink Champagne and eat hors d’oeuvres in there. It’s kind of like a party. When I did this to benefit a women’s home, for example, we had 100 people in there.”
She regularly works with the Texas Children’s Hospital, American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society.
“I don’t shy away from any particular organization,” Theresa explains. “I have events all the time, and I’m always looking to use my closet as a way of giving back.” Theresa’s philanthropic work started before the conception of her million-dollar closet. She once raised more than $100,000 by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2011. The proceeds went to Child Legacy International to help repair freshwater wells in the remote villages of Malawi.
In October 2020, Theresa sold her famous mansion for $6.5 million. She left her home in The Woodlands to move to a new estate called Romer Ranch that included an equally impressive closet. The new closet space didn’t stretch three-stories but is an impressive, avant-garde version with sweivelling pods, a champagne bar like the old one and tons of luxury goods. It may not have made as much noice but it is still safe to say this one is even more loaded with luxury and quite the masterpiece!
