Television’s hyperactive court jester of physical fitness, Richard Simmons, who built a mini-empire in his trademark tank tops and short shorts has died, a day after turning 76.
Los Angeles police and fire departments say they responded to a Los Angeles house where a man was declared dead from natural causes. Neither provided a name, but the address and age matches to Simmons.
TMZ was first to report his death, which has also been reported by other outlets citing unnamed Simmons representatives.
Simmons, who revealed a skin cancer diagnosis in March, had lately dropped out of sight, sparking speculating about his health and well-being.
The effervescent Simmons was a 121 kg teen who shared his hard-won weight-loss tips as host of the Emmy-winning daytime “Richard Simmons Show,” author of best-selling books and the diet plan Deal-A-Meal, as well as opening exercise studios and starring in millions of exercise videos.
He embraced mass communication to get his message out, even as he became the butt of jokes for his outfits and flamboyant flair.
Simmons’ daytime show was seen on 200 stations in America, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and South America. He put real people — overweight, balding or non-telegenic — in his exercise videos to make the fitness goals seem reachable.
A native of New Orleans, he was a chubby boy named Milton by his parents. He would tell people he ate to excess because he believed his parents liked his older brother more.
In Italy as a foreign exchange student, he ended up doing peanut butter commercials and bacchanalian eating scenes for director Federico Fellini in his film Satyricon. He told the AP: “I was fat, had curly hair. The Italians thought I was hysterical. I was the life of the party.”
His life changed after getting an anonymous letter. “One dark, rainy day I went to my car and found a note. It said, ‘Dear Richard, you’re very funny, but fat people die young. Please don’t die.” He was so stunned that he went on a starvation diet that left him thin but very ill.
Eventually, he was able to devise a sensible plan to take off the weight and keep it off.
When Simmons hadn’t been seen in public for several years, some news outlets speculated he was being held hostage in his own house. In telephone interviews with Entertainment Tonight and the Today show, Simmons refuted the claims and told his fans he was enjoying the time by himself. Filmmaker-writer Dan Taberski, one of his regular students, launched a podcast in 2017 called Missing Richard Simmons.
In 2022, Simmons broke his six-year silence, with his spokesperson telling The New York Post that the beloved fitness icon was “living the life he has chosen.”
