NEW YORK — Richard Simmons, television’s hyperactive court jester of physical fitness who built a mini-empire in his trademark tank tops and short shorts by urging overweight people to exercise and eat better, died Saturday. He turned 76 years old on Friday.
Los Angeles police and fire officials say they responded to a Los Angeles home where a man was pronounced dead of natural causes. Neither provided a name, but The Associated Press linked the address and age to Simmons through public records.
TMZ was the first to report his death, which has also been reported by other media outlets citing unnamed representatives for Simmons.
Simmons, who had revealed a skin diagnosis in March 2024, had recently disappeared from view, sparking speculation about his health and well-being.
Simmons was a 268-pound former teenager who shared his hard-won weight loss tips as host of the Emmy-winning daytime “Richard Simmons Show,” author of best-selling books and the Deal-A-Meal diet plan. opening practice studios and starring in millions of practice videos, including the successful line ‘Sweatin’ to the Oldies’.
“My nutrition plan and diet are just two words: common sense. With a dash of good humor,” he told The Associated Press in 1982. “I want to help people and make the world a healthier, happier place.”
Simmons embraced mass communication to get his message across, even though he eventually became the butt of jokes for his outfits and flamboyant flair. He has appeared as a guest on TV shows led by Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas and Phil Donahue. But David Letterman teased him and Howard Stern teased him until he cried. He was mocked in Neil Simon’s “The Goodbye Girl” on Broadway in 1993, and Eddie Murphy put on white makeup and dressed like he did in “The Nutty Professor” while shouting, “I’m a pony!”
When asked if he thought he could motivate people by being stupid, Simmons replied: “I think there’s a time to be serious and a time to be stupid. It’s about knowing when to do it. I try to have a nice combination. Being stupid cures depression. It catches people off guard and makes them think. But there’s a lot of seriousness in there that makes sense.”
Simmons’ daytime show was seen 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 huge bestseller.
He was known to counsel severely obese people, including Rosalie Bradford, who held records as the heaviest woman in the world, and Michael Hebranko, who credited Simmons with helping him lose 700 pounds. Simmons put real people – chubby, bald or non-telegenic – in his workout videos to make the fitness goals seem achievable.
Throughout his career, Simmons was a reliable critic of fad diets, always emphasizing healthy eating and exercise plans. “There’s always going to be something strange going on if you eat four grapes before you go to bed, or drink a special tea, or buy this little bean from El Salvador,” he told the AP in 2005 when the Atkins craze was spreading. diet swept the country. “If you watch your portions, have a good posture and exercise every day, you will live longer, feel better and look great.”
Simmons was born in New Orleans, a chubby boy named Milton by his parents. (He started calling himself “Richard” around the age of 10 to improve his self-image). He told people he ate too much because he believed his parents loved his older brother more. He was teased by classmates and grew to almost 200 pounds.
Simmons told the AP that his mother watched exercise guru Jack LaLanne’s TV show religiously when he was growing up, but that 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 those things.”
Simmons went to Italy as a foreign exchange student and eventually promoted peanut butter and bacchanalian food 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 the 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 went on a starvation diet, which left him thin but very sick.
After the crash diet, he gained 65 pounds back. Ultimately, he was able to come up with a sensible plan to shed the pounds and keep them off. “I went into the business because I couldn’t find anything I liked,” he said.
When Simmons had not been 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 refuted the claims and told fans he was enjoying time alone. Filmmaker-writer Dan Taberski, one of his regular students, launched a podcast in 2017 called “Missing Richard Simmons.”
In 2022, Simmons broke his six-year silence, with his spokesperson telling The New York Post that the beloved fitness icon was “living the life he chose.”
___ Mark Kennedy is present http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio and Andrew Dalton contributed from Los Angeles.
