Richard Simmons, the nation’s fitness guru, found dead at the age of 76
Fitness guru Richard Simmons died at his home in Hollywood on Saturday morning at the age of 76. He recently told PEOPLE that he was doing well and was grateful to be “alive for another day.”
Richard Simmons, a fitness guru known for his short pants and big personality as the king of home workout videos, has died at the age of 76, according to media reports, one day after his birthday and shortly after an interview in which he stated that he was doing well.
Simmons died Saturday morning at his Hollywood home, his longtime publicist Tom Estey confirmed to USA TODAY. TMZ was the first to report the death of Simmons, who turned 76 on Friday.
Regarding the possible cause of death, Estey said he had “no idea.”
Earlier this year, Simmons announced on Facebook that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer after visiting a dermatologist about a “weird looking bump” under his right eye. Simmons was suffering from basal cell carcinoma.
Simmons gave a rare interview to People magazine this week and revealed that he might blow out some candles for his birthday.
“But the candle will probably be on a zucchini,” Simmons told the magazine. “You know, I’m a vegetarian.”
He also reported that he was doing well, saying, “I feel good! I’m grateful that I’m here, that I’m alive for another day. I’m going to spend my birthday doing what I do every day, which is helping people.”
Simmons, a fitness guru for all
With “The Richard Simmons Show” and VHS training videos like “Sweating With the Oldies,” the fitness trainer built a multimedia empire.
Simmons was born Milton Teagle Simmons in New Orleans in 1948. He grew up in the French Quarter selling chocolates on the street. The city’s rich culinary tradition contributed to his becoming overweight as a child and young adult, he said.
When Simmons graduated from high school in the 1960s, he weighed nearly 270 pounds.
“I mean, I was way too big. You know how they teach you early on that ‘sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you?’ Well, that’s a lie,” Simmons told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 1983, People magazine reported. “But who’s having the last laugh these days?”
By his mid-20s, Simmons had overcome his battle with his weight and moved to Los Angeles in 1973, where he opened a gym called Slimmons in Beverly Hills, according to his website. He continued to teach classes and seminars there until 2013.
As Simmons became a fixture on local and national radio and television, he became a sought-after fitness expert and even played himself on the soap opera “General Hospital” for four years. His nationally syndicated series, “The Richard Simmons Show,” ran from 1984 to 1989 and won Daytime Emmys for best director and best talk show, according to Variety.
Simmons had a hugely successful career making home workout videos. He released 65 fitness videos and sold over 20 million copies, according to his website. In the videos – with names like “Party Off the Pounds” and “Disco Sweat” – Simmons led workout routines and shouted encouragement while popular music tracks provided the rhythm for exercisers to work out to.
Simmons “preached exercise, nutrition and, above all, kindness,” Chicago Sun-Times television and film critic Richard Roeper posted on the social network X. “He impacted thousands and thousands of lives for the better. I am one of the hundreds and hundreds of TV people who enjoyed his energy and readily accepted those crazy hugs. Rest in peace.”
Richard Simmons dies on the same day as Dr. Ruth
Simmons’ death came just hours after the announcement of the death of another 1980s icon, diminutive sexpert “Dr. Ruth” Westheimer, who died Friday in New York City at the age of 96.
The back-to-back deaths drew attention on social media to an old and charming interview between Simmons and Westheimer.
Westheimer told Simmons in the old footage: “They burst onto the stage and everyone is happy, and I love that. They bring a lot of joy to life,” she said, using the French term meaning “joie de vivre.”
Simmons replied: “I think people without a sense of humor are just awful. You have to have a sense of humor, life is too short.”
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