Richard Simmons, tv’s hyperactive court docket jester of bodily health who constructed a mini-empire in his trademark tank tops and brief shorts by urging the chubby to train and eat higher, died Saturday. He turned 76 on Friday.
Simmons died at his residence in Los Angeles, his publicist Tom Estey mentioned in an electronic mail to The Related Press. He gave no additional particulars.
Los Angeles police and fireplace departments say they responded to a home — whose deal with the AP has matched with Simmons via public information — the place a person was declared lifeless from pure causes.
Simmons, who had revealed a pores and skin prognosis in March 2024, had currently dropped out of sight, sparking speculating about his well being and well-being. His demise was first reported by TMZ.
Simmons was a former 268-pound teen who grew to become a grasp of many media types, sharing his hard-won weight-loss suggestions as host of the Emmy-winning daytime “Richard Simmons Show” and writer of best-selling books and the weight-reduction plan plan Deal-A-Meal. He additionally opened train studios and starred train movies, together with the wildly profitable “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” line, which grew to become a cultural phenomenon.
“My food plan and diet are just two words — common sense. With a dash of good humor,” he advised The Related Press in 1982. “I want to help people and make the world a healthier, happy place.”
Simmons embraced mass communication to get his message out, whilst he ultimately grew to become the butt of jokes for his outfits and flamboyant aptitude. He was a sought-after visitor on TV reveals led by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Phil Donahue. However David Letterman would prank him and Howard Stern would tease him till he cried. He was mocked in Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Girl” on Broadway in 1993, and Eddie Murphy placed on white make-up and dressed like him in “The Nutty Professor,” screaming “I’m a pony!”
Requested if he thought he might encourage folks by fooling around, Simmons answered, “I think there’s a time to be serious and a time to be silly. It’s knowing when to do it. I try to have a nice combination. Being silly cures depression. It catches people off guard and makes them think. But in between that silliness is a lot of seriousness that makes sense. It’s a different kind of training.”
Simmons’ daytime present was seen on 200 stations in America, in addition to in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Japan and South America. His first e-book, “Never Say Diet,” was a smash best-seller.
He was recognized to counsel the severely overweight, together with Rosalie Bradford, who held information for being the world’s heaviest lady, and Michael Hebranko, who credited Simmons for serving to him lose 700 kilos. Simmons put actual folks — chubby, balding or non-telegenic — in his train movies to make the health targets appear reachable.
All through his profession, Simmons was a dependable critic of fad diets, at all times emphasizing wholesome consuming and train plans. “There’ll always be some weird thing about eating four grapes before you go to bed, or drinking a special tea, or buying this little bean from El Salvador,” he advised the AP in 2005 because the Atkins weight-reduction plan craze swept the nation. “If you watch your portions and you have a good attitude and you work out every day you’ll live longer, feel better and look terrific.”
Simmons was a local of New Orleans, a chubby boy named Milton by his dad and mom. (He renamed himself “Richard” across the age of 10 to enhance his self-image). He would inform folks he ate to extra as a result of he believed his dad and mom favored his older brother extra. He was teased by schoolmates and ballooned to virtually 200 kilos.
Simmons advised the AP his mom watched train guru Jack LaLanne’s TV present religiously when he was rising up, however he wasn’t loopy concerning the health fanatic. “I hated him,” Simmons mentioned. “I wasn’t ready for his message because he was fit and he was healthy and he had such a positive attitude, and I was none of those things.”
Simmons went to Italy as a international alternate scholar and ended up doing peanut butter commercials and bacchanalian consuming scenes for director Federico Fellini in his movie “Fellini Satyricon.” He advised the AP: “I was fat, had curly hair. The Italians thought I was hysterical. I was the life of the party.”
His life modified after getting an nameless 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 shocked that he went on the hunger weight-reduction plan that left him skinny however very sick.
After the crash weight-reduction plan he gained again 65 kilos. Finally, he was capable of devise a smart plan to take off the kilos and hold them off. “I went into the business because I couldn’t find anything I liked,” he mentioned.
When Simmons hadn’t been seen in public for a number of years, some information retailers speculated that he was being held hostage in his personal home. In phone interviews with “Entertainment Tonight” and the “Today” present, Simmons refuted the claims and advised his followers he was having fun with the time by himself. Filmmaker-writer Dan Taberski, one among his common college students, launched a podcast in 2017 known as “Missing Richard Simmons.”
In 2022, Simmons broke his six-year silence, together with his spokesperson telling the New York Submit that the beloved health icon was “living the life he has chosen.”
One of many on-line tributes after Simmons’ passing was from actor-comedian Pauly Shore, who beforehand developed an unauthorized biopic of Simmons, which Simmons objected to on the time.
“I just got word like everyone else that the beautiful Richard Simmons has passed,” he started in an Instagram submit. “I hope you’re at peace and twinkling up in the heavens,” including “You’re one of a kind, Richard. An amazing life. An amazing story.”
