NEW YORK – Richard Simmons, the hyperactive fitness jester of television who, in his trademark tank tops and short shorts, built a small empire by exhorting overweight people to exercise more and eat better, died on Saturday. He was 76 on Friday.
Los Angeles police and firefighters said they were called to a Los Angeles home where a man had died of natural causes. Neither man gave a name, but the Associated Press was able to match the address and age to Simmons using public records.
TMZ was the first news outlet to report his death. Other media outlets also reported the death, citing unnamed representatives for Simmons.
Simmons, who announced a skin cancer diagnosis in March 2024, has been out of the spotlight recently, sparking speculation about his health and well-being.
Simmons, a former 270-pound teenager, has shared his hard-earned weight-loss tips as host of the Emmy-winning “Richard Simmons Show,” is the author of several best-selling books and the Deal-A-Meal diet plan, opened gyms and appeared in numerous fitness videos, including the hit series “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.”
“My eating plan and diet are just two words – common sense. With a dash of humor,” he told the Associated Press in 1982. “I want to help people and make the world a healthier, happier place.”
Simmons used mass communication to spread his message, even though he eventually became a laughing stock for his outfits and flamboyant style. He guest starred on television shows hosted by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Phil Donahue. But David Letterman played pranks on him and Howard Stern teased him until he cried. He was mocked on Broadway in Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Girl” in 1993 and Eddie Murphy put on white makeup, dressed like him in “The Nutty Professor” and screamed “I’m a pony!”
When asked if he thought he could motivate people through silliness, Simmons replied, “I think there are times when you have to be serious and times when you have to be silly. It’s about knowing when to do it. I try to find a good combination. Silliness cures depression. It surprises people and makes them think. But in between all that silliness, there’s a lot of seriousness that makes sense. It’s a different kind of workout.”
Simmons’ daytime show was broadcast on 200 stations in America, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and South America. His first book, Never Say Diet, was a bestseller.
He was known for counseling people who were severely overweight, including Rosalie Bradford, the record holder for the world’s heaviest woman, and Michael Hebranko, who credited Simmons with helping him lose 670 pounds. Simmons used real people – chubby, bald, or non-telegenic – in his workout videos to make fitness goals seem attainable.
A native of New Orleans, Simmons was a chubby boy his parents called Milton. (At about age 10, he changed his name to “Richard” to improve his self-image.) He told people he ate too much because he thought his parents liked his older brother more. He was teased by his schoolmates and weighed over 200 pounds.
Simmons told the AP that his mother watched fitness guru Jack LaLanne’s television show regularly when he was growing up, but he wasn’t crazy about the fitness fanatic. “I hated him,” Simmons said. “I wasn’t ready for his message, because he was fit and healthy and had such a positive attitude, and I was none of that.”
Simmons went to Italy as an exchange student and ended up shooting peanut butter commercials and bacchanalian eating scenes for director Federico Fellini in his film “Fellini Satyricon.” He told the AP: “I was fat and had curly hair. The Italians thought I was hysterical. I was the life of every party.”
His life changed after he received an anonymous letter. “One dark, rainy day, I went to my car and found a note. It said, ‘Dear Richard, you are very funny, but fat people die young. Please don’t die.'” He was so stunned that he began a starvation diet that left him thin but seriously ill.
After the crash diet, he gained 65 pounds back. Eventually, he managed to develop a sensible plan to lose the pounds and keep them off. “I got into the business because I couldn’t find anything I liked,” he said.
When Simmons was not seen in public for several years, some news outlets speculated that he was being held hostage in his own home. In phone interviews with “Entertainment Tonight” and the “Today” show, Simmons denied these claims and told his fans he was enjoying time alone. Filmmaker and author Dan Taberski, one of his regular students, started a podcast called “Missing Richard Simmons” in 2017.
In 2022, Simmons broke his six-year silence, with his spokesperson telling the New York Post that the popular fitness icon is “living the life he chose.”
Information for this article was contributed by Stefanie Dazio and Andrew Dalton of The Associated Press.
FILE – Richard Simmons poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, June 23, 1982. Simmons, a fitness guru who encouraged overweight people to exercise and eat better, died Saturday, July 13, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE – Richard Simmons arrives at the 2013 Project Angel Food Angel Awards in Los Angeles, Aug. 10, 2013. Simmons, a fitness guru who encouraged overweight people to exercise and eat better, died Saturday, July 13, 2024, at the age of 76. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File, File)
FILE – Richard Simmons leads the crowd at the first-ever Women’s Heart Conference in Kearney, Nebraska, at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Saturday, March 27, 1999. (Rick Tucker/Kearney Hub via AP)
FILE – Richard Simmons, center, is surrounded by models showcasing his new “Advantage” clothing line exclusively for women sizes 16 to 44 as he admires big and beautiful women in Los Angeles, Aug. 2, 1984. “You should feel great no matter what size you are,” Simmons says. Simmons, a fitness guru who encouraged overweight people to exercise and eat better, died Saturday, July 13, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Mark Avery, File)
FILE – Richard Simmons poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, June 23, 1982. Simmons, a fitness guru who encouraged overweight people to exercise and eat better, died Saturday, July 13, 2024, at age 76. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE – Richard Simmons onstage at the JDRF’s Los Angeles Walk to Cure Diabetes at the Rose Bowl on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013, in Pasadena, Calif. Simmons, a fitness guru who urged overweight people to exercise more and eat better, diet Saturday, July 13, 2024, at age 76. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision for JDRF/AP, File)
FILE – Richard Simmons at the St. Patrick’s Day Slimdown benefiting the Lollipop Theater Network, held at Slimmons in Beverly Hills, Calif., Sunday, March 17, 2013. Simmons, a fitness guru who encouraged overweight people to exercise and eat better, died Saturday, July 13, 2024, at the age of 76. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Lollipop Theater Network/AP Images, File)
FILE – Richard Simmons at the opening of the BuzzFeed LA office on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Los Angeles. Simmons, a fitness guru who encouraged overweight people to exercise and eat better, died Saturday, July 13, 2024, at the age of 76. (Photo by Alexandra Wyman/Invision for BuzzFeed/AP Images, File)
FILE – Richard Simmons arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Barclays Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013. Simmons, a fitness guru who encouraged overweight people to exercise more and eat better, died Saturday, July 13, 2024, at the age of 76. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision for MTV/AP Images, File)
