Richard Simmons, the health guru with a flamboyant, relentlessly optimistic persona, died Saturday (July 13) at his dwelling within the Hollywood Hills. His loss of life, which seems to be from pure causes, got here someday after his 76th birthday.
Simmons’ multi-faceted health empire included at the very least 12 books, 10 CDs and 22 DVDs, together with 5 volumes of his signature Sweatin’ to the Oldies.
Simmons had a platinum album in 1982 with Attain, which rode the Billboard 200 for 40 weeks. The album consisted of Simmons singing motivational songs corresponding to “What Are You Ready For?,” “You Can Do It,” “Wake Up,” “Attain” and “Dwell It.”
Simmons’ album entered the Billboard 200 within the week ending June 5, 1982, one week after Jane Fonda’s Exercise Report debuted. Jane Fonda‘s double-disk album reached No. 15 on the chart and went double-platinum. It consisted largely of such upbeat jams as The Jacksons’ “Can You Really feel It” and Brothers Johnson’s “Stomp!” Each albums have been a part of the get-fit craze of the period, which was additionally immortalized in Olivia Newton-John’s “Bodily” video, which was launched in 1981.
Simmons’ colourful persona made him a pure for tv, the place he achieved his best fame. From 1980-84, he headlined his personal daytime discuss present The Richard Simmons Present, specializing in private well being, health, train, and wholesome cooking. He additionally made frequent appearances as himself on Common Hospital and plenty of different applications.
He was additionally a frequent visitor of late-night tv and radio discuss reveals, corresponding to Late Night time with David Letterman (NBC) and Late Present with David Letterman (CBS) and The Howard Stern Present, the place these hosts knew simply how far they might tease Simmons with out crossing the road into cruelty. Simmons, wearing his signature Dolphin shorts and sparkly tank-tops, all the time gave the impression to be in on the joke.
He understood his position in present enterprise. In a 2012 interview with Males’s Well being, he was quoted as saying: “When the king will get depressed, he doesn’t name for his spouse or the prepare dinner. He turns to the little man with the pointed hat and says to the courtroom jester ‘make me snicker.’ And I’m that courtroom jester.”
Simmons was born Milton Teagle Simmons was born on July 12, 1948, in New Orleans. He grew up within the French Quarter, the place, he famous in his biography, “lard was a meals group and dessert necessary.” Simmons struggled together with his weight from an early age. He reportedly weighed 268 kilos when he graduated highschool.
Upon shifting to Los Angeles within the Nineteen Seventies, Simmons developed an curiosity in health. He opened an train studio, the Anatomy Asylum, later renamed Slimmons. His curiosity in health helped him lose greater than 100 kilos. In 2010, he proudly introduced that he had stored that weight off for 42 years.
Simmons didn’t make any main public appearances after 2014. In February 2017, the podcast Lacking Richard Simmons launched, investigating why Simmons left public life so abruptly.
In August 2022, in response to continued rumors and a TMZ documentary, What Actually Occurred to Richard Simmons, Simmons issued a press release to the New York Put up that he “is comfortable, wholesome, and dwelling the life he has chosen to dwell.”
In March 2024, Simmons revealed that he had been identified with basal cell carcinoma, situated beneath his proper eye. That very same month, Simmons issued a press release clarifying that he’s not dying, after a cryptic Fb put up he had written drew public concern.
“I’m … dying,” Simmons had written on Fb. “Oh I can see your faces now. The reality is all of us are dying. Each day we dwell we’re getting nearer to our loss of life. Why am I telling you this? As a result of I would like you to get pleasure from your life to the fullest each single day. Rise up within the morning and have a look at the sky … depend your blessings and revel in. “
Earlier this yr, actor Pauly Shore portrayed Simmons in a brief movie known as The Courtroom Jester, which premiered at Sundance Movie Competition. In selling the film, Shore teased the manufacturing of a bigger biopic on the health icon
Simmons, nonetheless, made it clear that he was not on board with the movie.
“You could have heard they might be doing a film about me with Pauly Shore,” Simmons wrote in a put up. “I’ve by no means given my permission for this film. So don’t imagine all the pieces you learn.”
Simmons, who was lively on social media, seemed to be in good spirits Friday, on his birthday. He posted a black-and-white photograph of himself subsequent to a cake. “I by no means acquired so many messages about my birthday in my life!” Simmons wrote on Fb. “I’m sitting right here writing emails. Have a most lovely remainder of your Friday.”
