Fitness guru Richard Simmons, known for his tiny shorts and bold personality as the king of home exercise videos, has died at age 76, according to media reports, the day after his birthday and shortly after reporting in an interview that he was in good health.
Simmons died Saturday morning at his Hollywood home, his longtime publicist Tom Esty confirmed to USA Today. TMZ first reported the death of Simmons, who turned 76 on Friday.
As for the cause of death, Esty said he had “no idea.”
Simmons announced on Facebook earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with skin cancer after visiting a dermatologist after developing a “strange swelling” under her right eye. She had basal cell carcinoma.
Simmons gave a rare interview to People magazine this week, saying she might blow out the candles on her birthday.
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“But the candle will be placed on top of the zucchini,” Simmons told the magazine, “because, as you know, I’m a vegetarian.”
He also reported that he was feeling fine, saying, “I’m feeling great! I’m grateful to be here and to be alive another day. I’m going to spend my birthday helping people like I do every day.”
Simmons, the Exercise Guru for Everyone
The fitness coach built a multimedia empire with VHS exercise videos such as “The Richard Simmons Show” and “Sweating With the Oldies.”
Born Milton Teagle Simmons in New Orleans in 1948, Simmons grew up in the French Quarter, selling pralines on the street, and he has said the city’s rich food traditions contributed to his being overweight as a child and as a young adult.
Simmons weighed about 270 pounds when she graduated from high school in the 1960s.
“I was pretty big. You know what they teach you as a kid: ‘Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words never hurt you,’ but that’s a lie,” Simmons told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 1983, according to People magazine. “But who’s got the last laugh?”
Simmons had overcome his struggles with weight by his mid-20s and moved to Los Angeles in 1973, where he opened an exercise studio in Beverly Hills called Slimmons, according to his website. He continued to teach classes and host seminars there until 2013.
Simmons became a regular on local and national radio and television, a sought-after fitness expert and even played himself for four years on the soap opera “General Hospital.” His nationally syndicated series, “The Richard Simmons Show,” aired from 1984 to 1989 and won Daytime Emmy Awards for best director and best talk show, according to Variety magazine.
Mr. Simmons achieved great success with home exercise videos, releasing 65 fitness videos that have sold more than 20 million copies, according to his website. In videos with titles like “Party Off the Pond” and “Disco Sweat,” Mr. Simmons led exercise routines and offered encouraging encouragement to exercisers while setting the rhythm of popular music.
Simmons “preached exercise, diet and above all else, kindness,” Chicago Sun-Times TV and film critic Richard Roeper wrote in a post on social media network X. “He positively impacted thousands, tens of thousands of lives. I’m one of hundreds, hundreds of TV people who soaked up his energy and embraced those crazy hugs. Rest in peace.”
Richard Simmons also died on the same day as Dr. Ruth.
Simmons’ death came hours after the death of another 1980s icon, the diminutive sex expert “Dr. Ruth” Westheimer, was announced. She died Friday in New York City at age 96.
The string of deaths has brought a fascinating old interview between Simmons and Westheimer to the attention of social media.
“You suddenly show up and make everyone happy, and I love that. You bring so much joie de vivre,” Westheimer told Simmons in the old footage, using French for “joie de vivre.”
Simmons responded: “I think people without a sense of humor are awful. You need a sense of humor. Life’s too short.”
